This is my desktop. Point and laugh.

I’m horribly out of the loop when it comes to VN news, but I just found out about the Kanon English patch yesterday. Say what you will about my slowpokeness. It’s okay. So after squealing like a little girl at a Jonas Brothers concert for five minutes, I finally got around to installing a… dubious copy of Kanon that’s been sitting on my HD for ages, along with the requisite voice and English patches.

Upon finally playing the game I was utterly mesmerized and blew a good three hours in the first sitting without realizing it… And this is why I don’t play VNs despite loving them so much — They’re too damn addicting. Yes, they’re even more addicting than jelly beans. I swore off VNs for the better part of two years, but maybe it’s something I can’t escape from. A great VN draws you in and doesn’t let go for a second. It makes you laugh, cry, and most importantly identify with its characters on a more intimate level since VNs are an interactive experience as opposed to passively watching an anime. Perhaps non-VN players will get the wrong impression when I say “intimate”, but there isn’t a better way to describe the feeling. Dictating the story and choosing your path (and girl) makes the experience much more personal compared to an anime.

Anyway that’s enough ranting. If it seems like I’m around even less than usual, you can chalk that up to alternatively crying and fapping to this spectacular VN. I already decided I’m going down the Nayuki path, hence the Nayuki screenshot. Screw the Taiyaki Thief, Meat Bun Fanatic, Demon Hunter and Dying Girl. I’ve got Cousin Lovin’ Strawberry Jam!

Go bother Emmy Award winning co-author Meultima in the meantime. I heard he’s currently playing a VN of his own, some nonsense about Umineko Wafers and Doki Doki Strike Witches or something. I’m not privy to all the details, but that’s what I surmised from spying on him from the bushes outside. By the way, I love what you’ve done with the place dude.

PS: I do plan to buy a legit copy of Kanon. The epic (and discontinued) Key Memorial Box would be awesome, but settling for a standalone copy isn’t so bad.

I’m not a rabid Ali Project detractor as is the fashion these days, as I actually used to be a big fan of the group, but even I have to admit the quality of their music has dipped drastically over the years. I remember hearing for the first time “Copperia no Hitsugi” back when I watched Noir and thinking Ali Project was abso-frickin-lutely fantastic. The unique vocals and chaotic, striking chords made the song memorable and gave Ali Project a flair all their own. They were definitely out of the ordinary in a good way.

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I was nosing through the university video library the other day and was pleasantly surprised to find they have a healthy collection of anime, including a few titles I hadn’t seen. A size-able chunk of these shows I knew immediately, old hat favourites like Ranma 1/2, Patlabor, Evangelion, GitS, Rurouni Kenshin. But then a thought occurred to me: If I had never seen an anime before, how would I begin to approach this cartoon menagerie?

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Shoot, pose, wink, repeat. ^_~

I don’t really have a witty introduction for this rant, but here’s what I have to say about the Valkyria Chronicles anime. It’s kind of long-ish though, so you’ve been warned.

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This is probably something anime fans don’t ask themselves too often, but why do we like anime? I know I obviously like anime since I watch it and have an animu blog, but things get murky when trying to explain why I like it. The first response would be that it entertains me, but that’s still a pretty vague answer.

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That’s never really a question you ever think to ask yourself. It’s perfectly normal to assume the ride will last forever, and it does until . . . Well, I’m not quite sure which show it was, but I just remember the ride ending.

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Is this really the crowd you want to identify with?

The sheer amount of anime fans that self identify as otaku and wear it as a badge of pride is mind boggling. Correct me if I’m wrong now, but being an otaku is not and never has been a good thing. It is technically the convenient end all term for any persons whose interests include anime, manga, games, visual novels, figures and Japanese idols, but no one in their right mind should ever pridefully say they are otaku.

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In this post, nostalgic memories of the Indigo League and the anime’s steady decline thereafter. Time to nerd it up a notch!

Note: I will use the English dub names for convenience. If you want to be a weaboo about it, just pretend I’m saying the Japanese names instead.

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In reference to the post title, I’ll kick things off by talking about this season’s premiere historical action show, Sengoku Basara. When I saw the first OP PV, I initially wrote it off on the notion that 90% of game-to-anime adaptations suck donkey balls, especially shows based on action games. For some reason I gave the first episode a shot anyway, and it blew me away. It was good. Damn good in fact.

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Lately it feels like I haven’t been watching as much anime as an anime blogger should, so I’m curious to see how much anime other fans watch, from the aniblogging community to casual/average fans. I don’t think I’ve fallen off the bandwagon, because my anime viewing always decreases as a semester drags on. Of course adding a good RPG to the equation doesn’t help either, as I’m more of a gamer at heart, and a good game will override watching anime. There are often times that I don’t watch anything for several days, so my estimate is probably 2-3 hours a week when busy (or when a good RPG gets most of my free time) and 6-7 when not busy. So my big question is how much anime do you guys watch?