Meu does origami and stuff.

Yes, the colour and stuff IS indeed for because of the Chinese New Years. How perceptive of you!

It’s some sort of cube-ball thing. Kinda cool. The finished product looks more like a cube, then you unfurl some of the trappings and voila - It becomes this.

Yay for random updates!

P.S. - This is the only set of pictures of my desktop taken so far. Yes, that is a Dell and an Orange Box mousepad which I got for free with the, well, the Orange Box.

Well, what can I say? The past few weeks (More like, month(s)) have been a blitz of gaming and all sorts of stuff. Stuff like the Orange Box (Damn Portal and it’s damn addictingness, also damn it’s impossible achievements) and, well, Bioshock.

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Visual novels carry a negative connotation to the uninformed anime fans in the west. Just saying the word immediately conjurs up associations to hentai. While it is true that bishoujo/eroge games are visual novels, not all visual novels are bishoujo/eroge. Imagine visual novels as a big circle. A smaller circle for bishoujo games is nested in the visual novel circle. Likewise, an even smaller eroge circle is embedded in the bishoujo circle. Hope that explains my point adequately.

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Danny Choo and Goodsmile Company want to know your top five most wanted figures. Here’s the original link if you live under a rock and haven’t seen the post yet. Just for this article’s sake, let’s hypothetically extend the offer to Max Factory and Alter just to be fair.

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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.

More than two million Japanese anime fans put in their votes for 2007’s best anime. I was pleasantly surprised at the results. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but can two million fans really be wrong? If you’re expecting a top 10 list from me, I don’t have one ready so be patient. Topic picture is unrelated but funny.

Sources: Yahoo Japan, Danny Choo

1. sola - Sola’s spot is a huge surprise. I pegged either Lucky Star or Code Geass at the number one position.

2. Lucky Star - Lucky Star is average at best but has a ton of fanboy support. Expected this to be pretty high.

3. Katei Kyoshi Hitman Reborn - Hitman Reborn doesn’t really deserve a place in the top ten. Bad taste… It’s also technically ongoing from late 2006 but whatever.

4. Ookiku Furi Kabutte - No opinion on this. I wouldn’t watch a baseball anime to save my life.

5. Higurashi - I guess this is for Higurashi season 2. I don’t really care too much for the franchise but it deserves its place.

6. Gintama - Another Jump title ongoing from 2006. I don’t think it should count, but tell that to the voters. The Gintama manga is much better than the anime which I found to be a boring at times.

7. Nanoha StrikerS - StrikerS had to be one of the biggest disappointments of 2007. If StrikerS wasn’t related to the Nanoha series, it wouldn’t even be in the top 50.

8. Nanatsuiro Drops - It’s got some cute designs, but I don’t think it should be this high just because of Noizi Itoh’s moe characters. Oh wait, that’s why Shana is so popular.

9. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei - Good choice here. This top 10 list left me in despair, but SZS’s placement brought my spirits up a bit.

10. Hidamari Sketch - No opinion. Truthfully it didn’t look that interesting.

Now that whatever winter solstice-related holiday you celebrate has come and gone, you probably have some spending money, some free time, or a bit of both. But what to spend it on? Certainly, you could pass endless hours seeking out only the choicest torrents or perhaps indulging in the finest sporting activities television has to offer (new American Gladiators broadcasts January 6!), but there’s bound to be something else to eat up your time.

And, in this case, your brains. The perfect thing to liven up your holiday season is some zombie-related merchandise! Everyone knows about the Resident Evil series and the recent million-seller Dead Rising, and what zombie aficionado, even a casual one, is unfamiliar with George Romero’s formidable body of work or the recent British zombie(-esque) films 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later? But if you’re looking for brain-munching entertainment that isn’t a Hollywood blockbuster or another Capcom title, we’ve got some suggestions for you to drop some holiday dough on.

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It’s already December 23rd (24th in the eastern hemisphere), and Christmas is creeping up. You have to buy a present for an otaku. Being unfamiliar with otaku lifestyle, the normal person is left in the dark and simply gives gift cards or cash. With a little help from yours truly, we will take a peek into the inner workings of what otaku crave. Instead of giving a present that will be exchanged, you will have the knowledge to get something that will be cherised for years to come. This post has content that some readers may find both objectionable and arousing. Curious readers proceed. Take heed that this is your last chance to turn back.

Note from the author: This post is not meant to be taken seriously nor do I condone holiday shopping to line the pockets of greedy corporations. It’s your money so do whatever you want.

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As a note - The posts I’ve been making for the series were in general to try out different styles of blogging. I’m still not sure if I’ve got the hang of it, but I’ll just make a close with a bumper spoiler-free review for Dennou Coil.

Dennou Coil - A Circle of Children.

Well, what can I say. First of, this series is directed by the Japanese animator Mitsuo Iso, and is his debut series as a director. He has done several high-profile animations in movies and serieses such as Evangelion and Rahxephon, as well as being known for his unique animation style which focuses on a large number of keyframes while minimizing the use of in-betweeners. This results in a highly-detailed animation with dense and sophisticated movements.

Anyway, on to the show itself. It’s shown in a generally prime-time slot in Japan with a large number of high-profile animators taken in to do the job. To put things simply - This is high-budget stuff. Music, sound effects, heck, this thing is pretty much touted to have the best animation in a series of 2007 outside of Seirei no Morobito.

Character design? It may take awhile to get used to, but once I finished the first episode or so, I was hooked. I simply couldn’t see it working with a more realistic character design - It fits in with the whimsical nuances that the series encircles. It’s also one of those things where they trade detail and realism for ease of animation, I suppose - Remember those old Hanna-Barbara cartoons? They had a ridiculous amount of exagerrated motion, which was thanks to the simplistic designs used at the time.

In terms of plot, now there’s something interesting. Dennou Coil opens with a mostly world-enforcing first half, helping the viewers get a general idea of the world with the multiple facets within, and the few story-based episodes serve as a general teaser of what’s to come and helping to build characterizations of the various characters involved. In the second half, the story kicks into high gear and we’re thrown into a massive roller-coaster ride - A far cry from the pace of the first half. And not only that - The story just keeps ramping higher and higher, upping the ante each time for the final climatic episodes. While several viewers have voiced how they might have preferred the first half for the uniqueness and freshness, I found myself in the camp who greatly appreciated the change of pace in the second half - I found it to be the main reason why I like Dennou Coil so much. Of course, it might also have to do with them suddenly pulling the rug out from under you, and you find yourself realizing that the cozy world you have been introduced to was in fact just the tip of the iceberg. It really wouldn’t be fair for me to say any more about the plot - It really is something to be seen and experienced for oneself as the whole series.

Overall, I think this was probably the most creative series I’ve seen out there. It was able to create a unique world and protray itself and its characters in a convincing manner, as well as showing that it was able to carry out the different types of storytelling with aplomb. As such it has wormed its way into my top 3 list, and will probably stay there for a long time to come.

Final score: 99 out of 105 possible Metatag constructs.

At an average price of about 3300 yen (not including import and sales taxes), Goodsmile’s Nendoroids cost way too much for what they are. The big draws for the lineup seem to be the cute SD sculpt and the plethora of bundled accessories.

The quality seems to be top notch for the most part, however the price is just outrageous ranging anywhere from 3000-4000 yen for such a small figure. With the success of the lineup, GSC seems to be charging a premium for the newer figures. GSC has also further capitalized on Nendoroid’s success with the new Nendoroid Petit trading figures.

For the price of two Nendoroids (~6600 yen), you probably have enough for a bigger, better scaled figure from any of the companies out there. To each their own though. If you like the chibi figures then no one is stopping you. I just think it’s money better spent elsewhere.