This would be the last post before my short hiatus due to my enlistment being on 1st Feb, this coming Wednesday, so I'll thus be going on a hiatus until my first book out, presumably 2 weeks later. Future updates would only be possible once a week since I am out of camp only once a week... so there won't be much changes to how the updates run, perhaps just more organised since it'll either be updated on a Saturday or a Sunday. There'd possibly be more stories after I head into NS so for now, it's still a bunch of common topics to cover.
Finally headed out to meet up with friends again earlier today. Went lepak-ing in the park area, chatting and stuff, admiring ppl's shaved head in preparation for NS etc etc. Met up with a close friend too after a long time and had a long chat on current issues in Burger King till near 10pm. It's always exciting to be discussing about all these current affairs, like debating and offering different views with your close friends. It's like exposing yourself to a large and diverse view of the different topics of concern. Had a slow chat about school live too which was over and a future education route to pursue after the fateful month of March. Oh well, a few more days to go and its overseas for me, all the way to Tekong :)
Took the opportunity to rush up all the latest episodes for the ongoing series, which in fact there were actually a couple or surprising changes that actually seemed to make the series even better than how it already was.
What was actually surprising for a comeback was actually Guilty Crown. For the past couple of episodes, what we actually saw was a good climax to the plot, a horrible abrupt end, truckload of secrets slammed in, awkward high school return + awkward action scenes that ended up to be too cliché. But what we actually saw in the latest episode, was finally a plot movement of Shu moving up to be the leader. I mean that, is something that should have been done long ago with his power of the Kings. It does seem like a good plot opener, just like the moment when Shu actually joined the Funeral Parlor, just that I hope it doesn't turn out to be as bad as the previous arc had shown. Now the students are ranked according to their void strength, which really does create a kind of hierarchy, which the larger void strength individuals being the higher ranked ones and vice versa with the rest. Seems like a high school dystopia to me, but since Shu's the only one that can actually draw out the voids and are now able to let the user use their own voids, things must progress more interestingly as the plot deepens. So now this series is positively heading to a good arc, but I'm still sad about how the animation has changed. There was already a clear indication of a change of drawing style in the previous episode and that was retained here too, so I do guess that this style is going to stick to GC for the rest of the series. I really did preferred the old style though...
Last Exile had just gave us an eye-opener in the previous episode, with the element of Last Exile returned. All their unique ships and weapons were all up against the opposing enemies, and the unique vanships of the country of Glacias. Exiles of both Turan and Glacias were brought in as well and the episode was brought to a cliffhanger with Turan's exile heading towards Glacias. That really did kept my hopes up for a more exciting battle in the latest episode, which really did left me disappointed yet again. The opening scene had already shown the aftermath of the destroyed Glacias, with all the "supposed to be fabulous" flying scenes all just fast forwarded to the present time. Nothing much happened for the rest of the episode, just meer conversations to patch up the story and to add more plot developments. Am still missing all the air fighting scenes which were rampant in the 1st Last Exile series so I'm really really inclined to seeing more of those scenes in this series of Last Exile as well. Would hope to see Anatoray soon, perhaps a cameo of Claus and Lavi? Well, it'll be nice if its true, or perhaps a peek at Anatory's exile again :D
Nisemonogatari is getting better with its wordplay and after so long, we were finally introduced to the lovely voice of Shinobu, the little vampire. I daresay that the seiyuu had did a great job in voicing Shinobu as it really did give her the personality that fits her and her voice just blends into the character perfectly. She really is a rather talkative one I would say and it's great hearing her speak since she was a rather popular mysterious character since season 1. Much more -monogatari styled fanservice are appearing in this season, there wasn't much in season 1 as I had remembered but at least the wordplay covers that out and their fanservice is more or less different from the ones we see on the other obvious series, like C3. I wouldn't say that their fanservice is really needed but in this case, it's more of a art than just rather pointless attractiveness attempts.
Just to leave a beautiful track of Guilty Crown OST here, would definitely get this if it was available...
So till then! 2 weeks more! :D
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
El. Psy. Congroo
Steins;Gate VN
Just before CNY, I completed the S;G VN which turns out to be just absolutely great. There's great artwork by Huke and major branches of storyline that was not covered in the anime series. Well for VNs it's common to have different routes for different heroines but in S;G's case, it wasn't really a case for pure romance, or rather it was Okabe Rintarou's stress that he does not wish to sacrifice anyone anymore, to save Mayuri's life.
So we're all familiar with how the story of S;G goes, just before I head on to the various endings, here are some of the difference between the anime series and the VN which is on the common route. First of, Mayuri definitely died in much more ways that I could recall actually happening in the anime series.
And all that amounted to the enormous pressure on Okabe which he had time-leaped actually more times than he did in the anime. With all the deaths that he saw happening, it was definitely stressful for him, and me as well (I'd get to this later). One of the more prominent difference, other than just vehicle deaths, was that Mayuri was captured and was forcibly sent into the past by SERN after which they sent a Jellyman's Report of Mayuri to Okabe. Now that is just too much :(
Secondly, Mr. Braun's daughter, Nae, was actually SERN's "underlings" and in the Kiryuu Moeka's arc, where in the anime, Moeka was shot as she had to die on that day due to the attractor field convergence but in the VN, she was actually killed by Nae with a knife.
There were 2 different routes to take in Moeka's arc, but both led to the same conclusion. Apparently, Mr. Braun a.k.a. FB, possibly wanted to save Moeka after she found out about his identity and shot himself in the head and Nae happened to saw everything. But since she was too little at that time, she vowed to kill Moeka and Okabe when she grows up to exact revenge for her father. So in the future where SERN rules the world, Nae had used the Time Leap machine to leap back 15 years (which was the year that she had killed Okabe) to kill Moeka and tells Okabe that she'll kill him in 15 years time as the attractor field convergence would not make Okabe die anytime between the next 15 years. Now that was just shocking. It really came as a surprise to see that Nae had become like this due to the IBN 5100 and FB crap and for Okabe to remove that reality by correcting the D-mails, was just the right thing to do.
In the VN, much more were explained about how theories of time travel had worked but there are still some loopholes yet to be plugged in. Firstly, for me, it was rather difficult for me to remember that Time Leaping does not change the world line and only the D-mails will. Since Mayuri's Jellyman Report came to Okabe, when he was hacking with Daru, the Jellyman's Report should have appeared there, or perhaps it was deliberately left out to send it out at the exact time to stir Okabe's feelings. Next, I wonder if Mayuri's death had really placed such a large significance. I do accept the fact that she had died the 1st time due to her presence being unwanted by SERN as she was of no use. And due to the attractor field convergence, she repeatedly dies in various ways but her being turned into a jellyman was the least expected. I mean if the convergence had killed her, why did SERN have to go all out to capture Mayuri, instead of Okabe, sends the report to Okabe, knowing that he'll time leap again. It just doesn't really make sense, unless Mayuri's death had a significant impact to lead to the dystopia just that it wasn't quite explained in the story.
The flags of S;G was really random and really unpredictable. Merely missing a call, or picking it up at the wrong time would just destroy the important flag that was supposed to be captured in order to complete the various endings. Considering this was the very first VN that I had played, it was considerably difficult and reading the full story was just all I had in mind. Not so sure if there were any bad ends to S;G since I didn't get any even in the 1st run when I actually missed a couple of important flags, ending me up at Suzuha's Ending. So for Okabe Rintarou, yes he did suffer watching Mayuri die again and again but I could bet with him that I suffered more after setting wrong flags and having to restart from the previous save point and AGAIN, see Mayuri die.
The feel in the VN had hit me harder than the anime series. I could actually get a larger feel of how Okabe was feeling. All the stress accumulating, all the unwillingness to be selfish in the various endings, and giving up the one you love after having made a firm decision to save his very own childhood friend. So now let's have a look at the various endings:
Suzuha's End
This was the very first ending I actually got to and it was a good end and a twist to what we originally see in the anime. So after Suzuha realises that Daru was her father and had used the fixed time machine to travel back to 1975 to obtain the IBN 5100 for Okabe Rintarou and the others, and had later failed as she had lost her memories. Due to Okabe stopping her from leaving, her time machine was spoilt from the heavy rain and to prevent that, Okabe would have to send a D-mail to stop himself from going after her on that fateful day. In making the choice not to send the D-mail, Okabe would instead save the mail and time leap back again 2 days ago and instead of fixing the time machine up, everyone in the lab would head out to cycle together with Suzuha and enjoy the wonderful time together. While resting at a overhead bridge, Daru had leaned too far out and after Okabe had alerted him, a truck brushed against Daru and he had survived. After the day had ending and the "end" had arrived, Okabe time leaped again and the cycle continues until he's trapped in his own time loop. He does not want Suzuha to die believing that her life was wasted and by repeatedly repeating these 2 days, it would always be filled with great times, or so is what Okabe believes. Due to the insane time loop, Okabe starts to lose himself and begins to think about what he could actually do in this time loop as anything he did wrong could be corrected if he had just time leaped again. He did not call out to Daru to actually see what would happen to him but with the convergence, Daru was not meant to die and for that, Okabe begins to hate himself as he had hoped to see something different other than the repeated conversations that he had long memorised.
The end of the time loop finally came when Suzuha realises that Okabe had the same eyes as what the others had back in 2036 where it was a dystopia and everyone had lost their heart, or soul it might seem. Okabe reveals to Suzuha about trapping himself in this time loop and that she would fail to get the IBN 5100 as she had lost her memories. Suzuha then helps to get Okabe out of the time loop by asking him to accompany her to 1975 where his presence might change the course of time and that she might not lose her memories at all. Having bid farewell to the others, Okabe and Suzuha then takes the one-way trip to 1975 in the time machine.
It was actually nice to see how this twist might have happened and we got a glimpse of how a time loop would amount to a loss of soul. Certainly that is possible. Would have hoped to see the aftermath though but I guess that would require more chapters to complete.
Feyris' End
Her's was the most unexpected one, or should I say the most consequential of all the endings. I personally do not hate this ending but it came as a shock to me as after how Akihabara had become after a D-mail was sent by Feyris, this twist came as a surprise.
After Okabe decided to change the contents of the D-mail to attempt to save her father as well as save Mayuri, the convergence number changed from a normal 0.XXXXXX to __.04XXXX where the 1st digit actually disappears. Ain't quite sure what it actually meant but the large change of convergence would not mean anything good. In this world line, Okabe Rintarou is officially Feyris' boyfriend and the Future Gadget Lab does not exist. Which means that Daru and Mayuri whom he saw at the maid cafe did not know him at all. What was more surprising to him was that he was a professional Rai-Netter and was Feyris' partner. Having lost his old memories of this new world line, he later reveals to Feyris about what has happened as was glad to have saved both Feyris' father and Mayuri as well, even though they were all strangers now. Having no one to turn to now and him being in this world line all alone with his Reading Steiner, he has only Feyris by his side and together that step up to the Rai-Net stage as a team of two.
And now we got to see another scenario of how a major change in world line would look like and having the ability of Reading Steiner might not be that good as he'd thought it would be. With the justification of the multiple world line theory, people that you might be close to would become hurt if a transition of world line occurs as it's like resetting oneself. This was the most interesting ending among the others that I've seen.
Rukako's End
I hate this end. Totally. Okabe was acting all high and all and with Rukako's feelings on him, he felt that he should not sacrifice her feelings and having did that to Feyris and Suzuha, doing so would be selfish and thus decided to retain her gender and live through Mayuri's death.
So in this end, Okabe decides to finally accept Mayuri's death and accept Rukako's feelings, leading to the both of them having a sense of remorse as they denied the fact to be able to save Mayuri and had instead decided to protect their feelings. Not wanting Rukako to feel much regret, Okabe heads to the shrine and tells her that they're buddies of "crime" now and not to let Mayuri's death go to waste and they would live happily together as themselves. Rukako then pleads Okabe to allow her to use the time leap machine so that she could return to the past and accept Mayuri's pleas of her cosplaying, so that she could see Mayuri smile happily before she loses her life. Back in the shrine, Rukako then shows Okabe a photo of the 3 of them at Comima with Rukako cosplaying and Mayuri with her bright smile. Not letting her die in vain, Rukako and Okabe moves on and have their family of their own.
The only "good" part I had seen from this ending was that the time leap machine appears to work well with everyone. Considering that this ending is obtainable before Nae actually using it, it was refreshing to see how Kurisu's invention was really perfect. However the sacrificing thing and accepting thing was just out of way. Having gone so far to sacrifice Suzuha and Feyris, stopping here would also meant that both their feelings were sacrificed as well. Honestly I just don't really like this ending. Not much has been developed for Okabe and Rukako as well so it's real weird to see them together IMO.
Mayuri's End
This end would be the next best ending (behind the true end), and so with the IBN 5100 in hand after much reversing of the D-mails, the final hacking was about to commence when Okabe realises that by doing so would mean to sacrifice Kurisu and save Mayuri instead. After holding the decision off, Kurisu gives him the push to save Mayuri and when the dateline of Mayuri's deaths nears, Mayuri sees Okabe in pain due to the painful decision that he has to made and tells him that he could always share his problems with her. After careful deliberation, Okabe reveals everything to Mayuri, about the people he had sacrificed to save her and now, Kurisu as well. Kurisu would return to America and Okabe brings Mayuri along to send her off.
Mayuri rushes forward to hug Kurisu and tells her that she does not wish to see Kurisu die just to save herself and it was then that Kurisu realises that Okabe had told he the truth. She however declines Mayuri's offer to die instead and insists that the decision is already made since Okabe loves Mayuri. Having said that, she tells Mayuri to find her happiness and leaves the city. Having completed the hacking and returning to the original world line, Mayuri and Okabe now continue their lives a couple now rather than "kidnapper" and "hostage" and Mayuri tells Okabe that she feels like she's forgetting someone important to her and that person had told her to find her own happiness. Okabe know that it was Kurisu who had told her that in the previous world line and decides to bring Mayuri happiness like what she had hoped for.
This was just a sweet ending where Mayuri actually knows what exactly was going on. Having sacrificed the memories of so many others just to save her life is definitely not something that one can feel easy about. Furthermore sacrificing a dear friend is just too difficult for Mayuri to bear. Which is possibly why she was able to remember faintly what Kurisu had told her in the previous world line. This ending had given me the largest impact other than the true end which was shown in the anime, so this felt original and impactful at the same time.
Kurisu's End
Christiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiina! Now this ending went on about the same route as Mayuri's end, just that the flags triggered were different and before removal of the 1st D-mail was done, there was the romantic moment between Okabe and Kurisu where they both acknowledge their feelings for each other and as Okabe presses the enter key reluctantly, Kurisu rushes in but fails to finish her proper confession before Okabe switches back to the original world line. He accepts the lost of Kurisu and discards the Phone Microwave and lives together with Daru and Mayuri, while not forgetting his precious assistant.
True End
As above, this is what one would see if the flags to the true end were triggered correctly and after the supposed credits of Chapter 10, the reversing of credits begin and we'll enter Chapter 11 which holds the story to the true end. There isn't any flags in the last chapter, just pure story which is exactly what happened in episode 23/24 of the anime. There was much more graphics though, the scene where Okabe was the one who had stabbed Kurisu was much much more gory than the anime itself. Acknowledging his pain and mistake, he returns yet again and saves her this time, leading to the true end where he got to reunite with her again.
Having patched to the incomplete english version, the true end is not registered as after Kurisu turns back to see Okabe, the game crashes :( oh well. At least the whole story of S;G is now complete.
S;G would be much more memorable than the other anime series to me since I've been able to get hold of the other endings as well and serving as my very 1st VN ever played, it really is more significant to me. It was a great addition to the anime as well after the anime had focused on 1 particular end and it would be more "complete" if I went through the other possible routes as well. Overall, S;G is a really good series worth watching and playing. Would hope for an official english version to get my hands on it as well. Great storyline!
"No one knows what the future holds.
That's why its potential is infinite,
just as this meeting demonstrates.
This is the choice of Steins Gate."
*just a note: there would most likely be 1 or 2 more updates before I get officially enlisted into NS next wednesday. been stuck at home before CNY (and had completed S;G), and after as well. so that's that.*
Just before CNY, I completed the S;G VN which turns out to be just absolutely great. There's great artwork by Huke and major branches of storyline that was not covered in the anime series. Well for VNs it's common to have different routes for different heroines but in S;G's case, it wasn't really a case for pure romance, or rather it was Okabe Rintarou's stress that he does not wish to sacrifice anyone anymore, to save Mayuri's life.
So we're all familiar with how the story of S;G goes, just before I head on to the various endings, here are some of the difference between the anime series and the VN which is on the common route. First of, Mayuri definitely died in much more ways that I could recall actually happening in the anime series.
And all that amounted to the enormous pressure on Okabe which he had time-leaped actually more times than he did in the anime. With all the deaths that he saw happening, it was definitely stressful for him, and me as well (I'd get to this later). One of the more prominent difference, other than just vehicle deaths, was that Mayuri was captured and was forcibly sent into the past by SERN after which they sent a Jellyman's Report of Mayuri to Okabe. Now that is just too much :(
Secondly, Mr. Braun's daughter, Nae, was actually SERN's "underlings" and in the Kiryuu Moeka's arc, where in the anime, Moeka was shot as she had to die on that day due to the attractor field convergence but in the VN, she was actually killed by Nae with a knife.
There were 2 different routes to take in Moeka's arc, but both led to the same conclusion. Apparently, Mr. Braun a.k.a. FB, possibly wanted to save Moeka after she found out about his identity and shot himself in the head and Nae happened to saw everything. But since she was too little at that time, she vowed to kill Moeka and Okabe when she grows up to exact revenge for her father. So in the future where SERN rules the world, Nae had used the Time Leap machine to leap back 15 years (which was the year that she had killed Okabe) to kill Moeka and tells Okabe that she'll kill him in 15 years time as the attractor field convergence would not make Okabe die anytime between the next 15 years. Now that was just shocking. It really came as a surprise to see that Nae had become like this due to the IBN 5100 and FB crap and for Okabe to remove that reality by correcting the D-mails, was just the right thing to do.
In the VN, much more were explained about how theories of time travel had worked but there are still some loopholes yet to be plugged in. Firstly, for me, it was rather difficult for me to remember that Time Leaping does not change the world line and only the D-mails will. Since Mayuri's Jellyman Report came to Okabe, when he was hacking with Daru, the Jellyman's Report should have appeared there, or perhaps it was deliberately left out to send it out at the exact time to stir Okabe's feelings. Next, I wonder if Mayuri's death had really placed such a large significance. I do accept the fact that she had died the 1st time due to her presence being unwanted by SERN as she was of no use. And due to the attractor field convergence, she repeatedly dies in various ways but her being turned into a jellyman was the least expected. I mean if the convergence had killed her, why did SERN have to go all out to capture Mayuri, instead of Okabe, sends the report to Okabe, knowing that he'll time leap again. It just doesn't really make sense, unless Mayuri's death had a significant impact to lead to the dystopia just that it wasn't quite explained in the story.
The flags of S;G was really random and really unpredictable. Merely missing a call, or picking it up at the wrong time would just destroy the important flag that was supposed to be captured in order to complete the various endings. Considering this was the very first VN that I had played, it was considerably difficult and reading the full story was just all I had in mind. Not so sure if there were any bad ends to S;G since I didn't get any even in the 1st run when I actually missed a couple of important flags, ending me up at Suzuha's Ending. So for Okabe Rintarou, yes he did suffer watching Mayuri die again and again but I could bet with him that I suffered more after setting wrong flags and having to restart from the previous save point and AGAIN, see Mayuri die.
The feel in the VN had hit me harder than the anime series. I could actually get a larger feel of how Okabe was feeling. All the stress accumulating, all the unwillingness to be selfish in the various endings, and giving up the one you love after having made a firm decision to save his very own childhood friend. So now let's have a look at the various endings:
Suzuha's End
This was the very first ending I actually got to and it was a good end and a twist to what we originally see in the anime. So after Suzuha realises that Daru was her father and had used the fixed time machine to travel back to 1975 to obtain the IBN 5100 for Okabe Rintarou and the others, and had later failed as she had lost her memories. Due to Okabe stopping her from leaving, her time machine was spoilt from the heavy rain and to prevent that, Okabe would have to send a D-mail to stop himself from going after her on that fateful day. In making the choice not to send the D-mail, Okabe would instead save the mail and time leap back again 2 days ago and instead of fixing the time machine up, everyone in the lab would head out to cycle together with Suzuha and enjoy the wonderful time together. While resting at a overhead bridge, Daru had leaned too far out and after Okabe had alerted him, a truck brushed against Daru and he had survived. After the day had ending and the "end" had arrived, Okabe time leaped again and the cycle continues until he's trapped in his own time loop. He does not want Suzuha to die believing that her life was wasted and by repeatedly repeating these 2 days, it would always be filled with great times, or so is what Okabe believes. Due to the insane time loop, Okabe starts to lose himself and begins to think about what he could actually do in this time loop as anything he did wrong could be corrected if he had just time leaped again. He did not call out to Daru to actually see what would happen to him but with the convergence, Daru was not meant to die and for that, Okabe begins to hate himself as he had hoped to see something different other than the repeated conversations that he had long memorised.
The end of the time loop finally came when Suzuha realises that Okabe had the same eyes as what the others had back in 2036 where it was a dystopia and everyone had lost their heart, or soul it might seem. Okabe reveals to Suzuha about trapping himself in this time loop and that she would fail to get the IBN 5100 as she had lost her memories. Suzuha then helps to get Okabe out of the time loop by asking him to accompany her to 1975 where his presence might change the course of time and that she might not lose her memories at all. Having bid farewell to the others, Okabe and Suzuha then takes the one-way trip to 1975 in the time machine.
It was actually nice to see how this twist might have happened and we got a glimpse of how a time loop would amount to a loss of soul. Certainly that is possible. Would have hoped to see the aftermath though but I guess that would require more chapters to complete.
Feyris' End
Her's was the most unexpected one, or should I say the most consequential of all the endings. I personally do not hate this ending but it came as a shock to me as after how Akihabara had become after a D-mail was sent by Feyris, this twist came as a surprise.
After Okabe decided to change the contents of the D-mail to attempt to save her father as well as save Mayuri, the convergence number changed from a normal 0.XXXXXX to __.04XXXX where the 1st digit actually disappears. Ain't quite sure what it actually meant but the large change of convergence would not mean anything good. In this world line, Okabe Rintarou is officially Feyris' boyfriend and the Future Gadget Lab does not exist. Which means that Daru and Mayuri whom he saw at the maid cafe did not know him at all. What was more surprising to him was that he was a professional Rai-Netter and was Feyris' partner. Having lost his old memories of this new world line, he later reveals to Feyris about what has happened as was glad to have saved both Feyris' father and Mayuri as well, even though they were all strangers now. Having no one to turn to now and him being in this world line all alone with his Reading Steiner, he has only Feyris by his side and together that step up to the Rai-Net stage as a team of two.
And now we got to see another scenario of how a major change in world line would look like and having the ability of Reading Steiner might not be that good as he'd thought it would be. With the justification of the multiple world line theory, people that you might be close to would become hurt if a transition of world line occurs as it's like resetting oneself. This was the most interesting ending among the others that I've seen.
Rukako's End
I hate this end. Totally. Okabe was acting all high and all and with Rukako's feelings on him, he felt that he should not sacrifice her feelings and having did that to Feyris and Suzuha, doing so would be selfish and thus decided to retain her gender and live through Mayuri's death.
So in this end, Okabe decides to finally accept Mayuri's death and accept Rukako's feelings, leading to the both of them having a sense of remorse as they denied the fact to be able to save Mayuri and had instead decided to protect their feelings. Not wanting Rukako to feel much regret, Okabe heads to the shrine and tells her that they're buddies of "crime" now and not to let Mayuri's death go to waste and they would live happily together as themselves. Rukako then pleads Okabe to allow her to use the time leap machine so that she could return to the past and accept Mayuri's pleas of her cosplaying, so that she could see Mayuri smile happily before she loses her life. Back in the shrine, Rukako then shows Okabe a photo of the 3 of them at Comima with Rukako cosplaying and Mayuri with her bright smile. Not letting her die in vain, Rukako and Okabe moves on and have their family of their own.
The only "good" part I had seen from this ending was that the time leap machine appears to work well with everyone. Considering that this ending is obtainable before Nae actually using it, it was refreshing to see how Kurisu's invention was really perfect. However the sacrificing thing and accepting thing was just out of way. Having gone so far to sacrifice Suzuha and Feyris, stopping here would also meant that both their feelings were sacrificed as well. Honestly I just don't really like this ending. Not much has been developed for Okabe and Rukako as well so it's real weird to see them together IMO.
Mayuri's End
This end would be the next best ending (behind the true end), and so with the IBN 5100 in hand after much reversing of the D-mails, the final hacking was about to commence when Okabe realises that by doing so would mean to sacrifice Kurisu and save Mayuri instead. After holding the decision off, Kurisu gives him the push to save Mayuri and when the dateline of Mayuri's deaths nears, Mayuri sees Okabe in pain due to the painful decision that he has to made and tells him that he could always share his problems with her. After careful deliberation, Okabe reveals everything to Mayuri, about the people he had sacrificed to save her and now, Kurisu as well. Kurisu would return to America and Okabe brings Mayuri along to send her off.
Mayuri rushes forward to hug Kurisu and tells her that she does not wish to see Kurisu die just to save herself and it was then that Kurisu realises that Okabe had told he the truth. She however declines Mayuri's offer to die instead and insists that the decision is already made since Okabe loves Mayuri. Having said that, she tells Mayuri to find her happiness and leaves the city. Having completed the hacking and returning to the original world line, Mayuri and Okabe now continue their lives a couple now rather than "kidnapper" and "hostage" and Mayuri tells Okabe that she feels like she's forgetting someone important to her and that person had told her to find her own happiness. Okabe know that it was Kurisu who had told her that in the previous world line and decides to bring Mayuri happiness like what she had hoped for.
This was just a sweet ending where Mayuri actually knows what exactly was going on. Having sacrificed the memories of so many others just to save her life is definitely not something that one can feel easy about. Furthermore sacrificing a dear friend is just too difficult for Mayuri to bear. Which is possibly why she was able to remember faintly what Kurisu had told her in the previous world line. This ending had given me the largest impact other than the true end which was shown in the anime, so this felt original and impactful at the same time.
Kurisu's End
Christiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiina! Now this ending went on about the same route as Mayuri's end, just that the flags triggered were different and before removal of the 1st D-mail was done, there was the romantic moment between Okabe and Kurisu where they both acknowledge their feelings for each other and as Okabe presses the enter key reluctantly, Kurisu rushes in but fails to finish her proper confession before Okabe switches back to the original world line. He accepts the lost of Kurisu and discards the Phone Microwave and lives together with Daru and Mayuri, while not forgetting his precious assistant.
True End
As above, this is what one would see if the flags to the true end were triggered correctly and after the supposed credits of Chapter 10, the reversing of credits begin and we'll enter Chapter 11 which holds the story to the true end. There isn't any flags in the last chapter, just pure story which is exactly what happened in episode 23/24 of the anime. There was much more graphics though, the scene where Okabe was the one who had stabbed Kurisu was much much more gory than the anime itself. Acknowledging his pain and mistake, he returns yet again and saves her this time, leading to the true end where he got to reunite with her again.
Having patched to the incomplete english version, the true end is not registered as after Kurisu turns back to see Okabe, the game crashes :( oh well. At least the whole story of S;G is now complete.
S;G would be much more memorable than the other anime series to me since I've been able to get hold of the other endings as well and serving as my very 1st VN ever played, it really is more significant to me. It was a great addition to the anime as well after the anime had focused on 1 particular end and it would be more "complete" if I went through the other possible routes as well. Overall, S;G is a really good series worth watching and playing. Would hope for an official english version to get my hands on it as well. Great storyline!
"No one knows what the future holds.
That's why its potential is infinite,
just as this meeting demonstrates.
This is the choice of Steins Gate."
*just a note: there would most likely be 1 or 2 more updates before I get officially enlisted into NS next wednesday. been stuck at home before CNY (and had completed S;G), and after as well. so that's that.*
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
GAH! The Agony...
yea. the agony... just realised that Black Rock Shooter actually airs on 2nd Feb... can't even catch a glimpse of the 1st episode before heading into camp... oh well. Perhaps it's better since I'll be able to watch 2/3 episodes when I come out :D
stuck at home the last few days, as usual, entertaining myself with guitar and a couple of computer games. Went to friend's house on Monday for some game console session and swimming and it felt good to be seeing everyone once again before we all head to Tekong in a couple of days, and of course, missing out hair right now :P
The fact that I actually suck at console games was reaffirmed yet again on Monday. Seems like everyone have a liking to sports games since their multiplayer modes can cover more of us, but I guess I'm more orientated to SHMUPS than sport games though. Was spamming slide tackles over at soccer, ran a own goal while trying to pass to my team's keeper... tsk, i suck at it :( had been quite awhile since I last swam as well, so it felt real good to enter the pool again, it's just great to enjoy this hobby to the fullest!
managed to catch up with Last Exile as well, which I'm really quite anticipating the air battles in the next episode. Last Exile just need that element, which is what makes Last Exile itself interesting to watch. The latest few episodes were rather normal, we got to see the point of view from the Federation's side, still some questions left unanswered, Fam, Gisey and Millia gets to visit the eluded Glacias coincidentally, and there would be a large scale fight next week! Really looking forward to seeing the Glacias warfare in action, their vanships look real cool!
Another's 2nd episode felt nerve-wrecking as usual with the creepy atmosphere and its creepy bgms, thank goodness I didn't make the same mistake again like I did with Higurashi and Shikabanehime, with watching them late at night. The story gets more mysterious in the 2nd episode and out main protagonist finally gets a hint of something is wrong about the mysterious girl he's in touch with. This definitely looks promising so I guess I'll be following this series for quite some time.
the 2nd episode for Daily Lives of High School Boys have been shown as well, hilarious antics are just hilarious. This series could be really on par with Baka test or so it seems, well excluding the romance factor. To me, it really felt like I was watching Lucky Star, with boys. Comedy series have always catch my attention and this attention given for this series is just absolutely worthwhile :)
another nice MAD of Clannad to leave here :D
stuck at home the last few days, as usual, entertaining myself with guitar and a couple of computer games. Went to friend's house on Monday for some game console session and swimming and it felt good to be seeing everyone once again before we all head to Tekong in a couple of days, and of course, missing out hair right now :P
The fact that I actually suck at console games was reaffirmed yet again on Monday. Seems like everyone have a liking to sports games since their multiplayer modes can cover more of us, but I guess I'm more orientated to SHMUPS than sport games though. Was spamming slide tackles over at soccer, ran a own goal while trying to pass to my team's keeper... tsk, i suck at it :( had been quite awhile since I last swam as well, so it felt real good to enter the pool again, it's just great to enjoy this hobby to the fullest!
managed to catch up with Last Exile as well, which I'm really quite anticipating the air battles in the next episode. Last Exile just need that element, which is what makes Last Exile itself interesting to watch. The latest few episodes were rather normal, we got to see the point of view from the Federation's side, still some questions left unanswered, Fam, Gisey and Millia gets to visit the eluded Glacias coincidentally, and there would be a large scale fight next week! Really looking forward to seeing the Glacias warfare in action, their vanships look real cool!
Another's 2nd episode felt nerve-wrecking as usual with the creepy atmosphere and its creepy bgms, thank goodness I didn't make the same mistake again like I did with Higurashi and Shikabanehime, with watching them late at night. The story gets more mysterious in the 2nd episode and out main protagonist finally gets a hint of something is wrong about the mysterious girl he's in touch with. This definitely looks promising so I guess I'll be following this series for quite some time.
the 2nd episode for Daily Lives of High School Boys have been shown as well, hilarious antics are just hilarious. This series could be really on par with Baka test or so it seems, well excluding the romance factor. To me, it really felt like I was watching Lucky Star, with boys. Comedy series have always catch my attention and this attention given for this series is just absolutely worthwhile :)
another nice MAD of Clannad to leave here :D
Friday, January 13, 2012
Satisfied!
Cosfest X.2
25th,26th Feb 2012
said to be a continuation of Cosfest X.1 which was on mid last year, would be going for this if I'm able to book out of army camp. More details over at their fb page.
Similarly, Cosfest 2012 will be still held either in June/July this year so I'll be looking forward to that as well :)
had completed the re-sketch of Rin&Len Append vers. just days ago and here's the result:
P.S. got myself a new logo too! :)
attempted to used a HB pencil and a 2B pencil to shade but it didn't turn out that well, so I reverted back to 2B mechanical pencil which still works its magic as well as ever. It didn't turn out to be as well as I had expected but personally I felt that it was quite decent too. I had actually measured the proportion quite accurately so that I could actually fit both Rin and Len in it but somehow along midway, Rin got larger (lol) and then abit of the picture had to be cut off.
Had spotted the original illustration over at konachan and it was really fantastic, and possibly due to its complexity, it spurred me on to do a re-sketch for it. Currently I'm still no good over the shadings and shadows so original illustrations are quite out of the question for now, and hence I'm still practising with re-sketches that are improving in terms of speed and quality over time. Perhaps I should do one original soon :D Overall, this piece of artwork is really rather complex. Firstly, its not a common 2 shade thing like how it turns out to be for Black Rock Shooter, it is all colourful, yellow bands, black buckles, green shades etc etc and having to fit them all into black and white really isn't easy. I had initially postponed the shading since I was afraid I would screw it up and then decided to continue when I got a rough idea over it. Secondly, it's not easy to get 2 different interacting individuals drawn in the same picture. Proportion becomes a great problem which resulted in me redrawing half of Len and the shading was off, redo-ing it was a hassle too. Lastly, there were translucent sleeves in the original illustration that made it super hard to redo it using just a pencil. At least to me. So in the end I finished it up with variable shading over at the sleeve and then using the eraser to smudge over the rest of the picture to attempt to remove the scar lines of the shadings but it still didn't turn out to be as smooth as the previous BRS RS. oh well. moving on to a next re-sketch soon, or probably a very 1st original :P
started on another new series as well on the current season: Daily Lives of High School Boys.
It's a collab between Sunrise and Square Enix and personally, I do have high expectations for this becoming a comedy slice-of-life.
honestly, this is the 3rd comedy series after Baka test and Arakawa that had actually made me laugh out loud for more than just seconds. all their jokes are really random, lame and downright funny. I can say that it's currently the first series that got me laughing just a minute into the show. *if you've watched it, you'll probably knew which scene I meant* so yup, this would be an addition to the current season watchlist which I really do deem to be much much better than the disappointing 1st season.
And now, I'd like to rant about Guilty Crown, yes, again. After the not-really-anticipated 1hr recap episode which I had just skipped it over, a disappointing follow-up episode was shown. I ain't complaining much on the actions and stuff but the plot development really needs some serious touch-ups. So it begins with Ouma Shu, our main male protagonist, getting all involved with terrorist activities and with uncanny resemblance with Code Geass, there are terrorist fights with the government, some high school life and some world destruction thingy. That was still OK, except the fact that Code Geass took about 2 seasons while Guilty Crown only took 10/11 episodes. So "it isn't that bad, right?". Oh, unfortunately it is. So before the 1hr recap episode had aired, our female protagonist, Inori, gets captured and the terrorist leader Gai, gets seriously injured from protecting Shu. OK. So now the plot deepens and Shu's gonna find a way to save Inori, probably some other method he could find to get to Inori, and perhaps Gai might die and Shu would take over his role and lead the rest of the team to save Inori and the world... WELL that was what I had though, except that this amazing build-up of tension was dissolved in one small episode. Seriously?! .____.
1 episode? That was just TOO FAST. Come on. So all the secrets and mystery about Gai, the unknown girl that Ouma had been seeing in his flashbacks, the origin of Lost Christmas, Inori's origin, Gai's void, ALL GOT FREAKING STUFFED INTO OUR MINDS IN ONE BLOODY EPISODE. Thats too fast of a development. It was a good build up of secrets that I eagerly await for it to be all revealed in a nice pace, but all hopes were lost in the lastest episode 12. I'm not sure if I'm still gonna follow this series but this has got to be the most disappointing show I've ever watched after been awed by their opening episodes. Bad bad bad.
So here's another rather nice MV made too:
P.S. the song's great too!
25th,26th Feb 2012
said to be a continuation of Cosfest X.1 which was on mid last year, would be going for this if I'm able to book out of army camp. More details over at their fb page.
Similarly, Cosfest 2012 will be still held either in June/July this year so I'll be looking forward to that as well :)
had completed the re-sketch of Rin&Len Append vers. just days ago and here's the result:
P.S. got myself a new logo too! :)
attempted to used a HB pencil and a 2B pencil to shade but it didn't turn out that well, so I reverted back to 2B mechanical pencil which still works its magic as well as ever. It didn't turn out to be as well as I had expected but personally I felt that it was quite decent too. I had actually measured the proportion quite accurately so that I could actually fit both Rin and Len in it but somehow along midway, Rin got larger (lol) and then abit of the picture had to be cut off.
Had spotted the original illustration over at konachan and it was really fantastic, and possibly due to its complexity, it spurred me on to do a re-sketch for it. Currently I'm still no good over the shadings and shadows so original illustrations are quite out of the question for now, and hence I'm still practising with re-sketches that are improving in terms of speed and quality over time. Perhaps I should do one original soon :D Overall, this piece of artwork is really rather complex. Firstly, its not a common 2 shade thing like how it turns out to be for Black Rock Shooter, it is all colourful, yellow bands, black buckles, green shades etc etc and having to fit them all into black and white really isn't easy. I had initially postponed the shading since I was afraid I would screw it up and then decided to continue when I got a rough idea over it. Secondly, it's not easy to get 2 different interacting individuals drawn in the same picture. Proportion becomes a great problem which resulted in me redrawing half of Len and the shading was off, redo-ing it was a hassle too. Lastly, there were translucent sleeves in the original illustration that made it super hard to redo it using just a pencil. At least to me. So in the end I finished it up with variable shading over at the sleeve and then using the eraser to smudge over the rest of the picture to attempt to remove the scar lines of the shadings but it still didn't turn out to be as smooth as the previous BRS RS. oh well. moving on to a next re-sketch soon, or probably a very 1st original :P
started on another new series as well on the current season: Daily Lives of High School Boys.
It's a collab between Sunrise and Square Enix and personally, I do have high expectations for this becoming a comedy slice-of-life.
honestly, this is the 3rd comedy series after Baka test and Arakawa that had actually made me laugh out loud for more than just seconds. all their jokes are really random, lame and downright funny. I can say that it's currently the first series that got me laughing just a minute into the show. *if you've watched it, you'll probably knew which scene I meant* so yup, this would be an addition to the current season watchlist which I really do deem to be much much better than the disappointing 1st season.
And now, I'd like to rant about Guilty Crown, yes, again. After the not-really-anticipated 1hr recap episode which I had just skipped it over, a disappointing follow-up episode was shown. I ain't complaining much on the actions and stuff but the plot development really needs some serious touch-ups. So it begins with Ouma Shu, our main male protagonist, getting all involved with terrorist activities and with uncanny resemblance with Code Geass, there are terrorist fights with the government, some high school life and some world destruction thingy. That was still OK, except the fact that Code Geass took about 2 seasons while Guilty Crown only took 10/11 episodes. So "it isn't that bad, right?". Oh, unfortunately it is. So before the 1hr recap episode had aired, our female protagonist, Inori, gets captured and the terrorist leader Gai, gets seriously injured from protecting Shu. OK. So now the plot deepens and Shu's gonna find a way to save Inori, probably some other method he could find to get to Inori, and perhaps Gai might die and Shu would take over his role and lead the rest of the team to save Inori and the world... WELL that was what I had though, except that this amazing build-up of tension was dissolved in one small episode. Seriously?! .____.
1 episode? That was just TOO FAST. Come on. So all the secrets and mystery about Gai, the unknown girl that Ouma had been seeing in his flashbacks, the origin of Lost Christmas, Inori's origin, Gai's void, ALL GOT FREAKING STUFFED INTO OUR MINDS IN ONE BLOODY EPISODE. Thats too fast of a development. It was a good build up of secrets that I eagerly await for it to be all revealed in a nice pace, but all hopes were lost in the lastest episode 12. I'm not sure if I'm still gonna follow this series but this has got to be the most disappointing show I've ever watched after been awed by their opening episodes. Bad bad bad.
So here's another rather nice MV made too:
P.S. the song's great too!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Random
stuck at home these days with all the wet weather, which was quite surprising after literally daaaaaaaays of sunshine. What hasn't quite disappeared were actually the strong winds though, an umbrella's ability is critically dampened everytime I head out to get lunch, which coincidentally, the rain gets heavier as soon as I step out into the rain. ........ *hopes* for a combo breaker now D:
Chinese New Year is round the corner, with only like one+ week more AND enlistment's coming soon too, with about 20 days left in my comfort home before I get shipped to Tekong, literally.
Computer games are getting increasingly boring, I wonder why... Perhaps the years of grinding on certain monsters for exp finally took its toll as I just can't picture myself, now, sitting down and killing a monster tens of thousands of time just to level up once and continue the process. SO, nope, no more MMORPGs for me for now. I'd prefer some strategic RPGs, offline or so, turn based or SRPGs but I'm rather contented by SHMUPS games for me. Basically, SHMUPS stands for shoot em' up games which preferred by me, are bullet hells. So games like Touhou tends to get my hyped up just to clear a stage or to capture certain spellcards. Typically, bullet hell games is kind of like you having a large game screen and the bullets just fill the entire screen in a certain pattern and all you got to do would be to dodge them since you'll be dead in a single hit. R-type was hard enough for a single life shooter game and bullet hells just takes them to the whole new level. How I wish there was a remake for R-type on PC :X really did loved that game.
Spotted this picture over at animesuki forums, which I'm getting very excited about.
Weiss Schwarz Madoka Magica!!!!! I was honestly disappointed when I first saw the Madoka series being on Precious Memories, since I don't really like that card series, even Chaos TCG looks better than Precious Memories IMO. Will definitely get my hands on this series as well xD
Though I have yet to actually play WS, their artwork proves to me that collecting them would be awesome as well. Just getting foils and stuff really intrigues me :D So now I have been collecting the Angel Beats! series, which was *unfortunately*, paired up with Kud Wafter, so hopefully the madoka series would be a standalone :)
Restarted the resketch after some editing to the original illustration and I'm currently finishing it, about 1 more day would do, so I'll upload the completed RS as soon as I complete it.
The horror series: "Another", has recently begun airing, at first glance at its very 1st episode, it really lifts up one's expectations that this is going to be a rather great show. The bgms were placed nicely to create the ghostly atmosphere and a bunchload of secrets were all thrown in very quickly. Looking at how it turned out to be, I'm rather satisfied.
Similarly, Nisemonogatari had started airing as well. I'm really glad I'm able to watch a sequel to such a wonderful and amazingly unique anime series. Sure, dialogues mainly fill up the show but with their perky animations and wonderful characters, its a sure watch for me! I'm still wondering though, was Bakemonogatari so much dependent on FS? definitely there are but their in a kinda different way than the other series WHICH is why I like the -monogatari series. Would see how it goes and I'm still waiting for BRS to air!!! The PV was totally kickass :P
Honestly, staying at home is really mundane, hopes for good weather to start heading out again! :)
Just 2 Madoka MADs I'll leave here for today, both are really well made :) Enjoy!
Chinese New Year is round the corner, with only like one+ week more AND enlistment's coming soon too, with about 20 days left in my comfort home before I get shipped to Tekong, literally.
Computer games are getting increasingly boring, I wonder why... Perhaps the years of grinding on certain monsters for exp finally took its toll as I just can't picture myself, now, sitting down and killing a monster tens of thousands of time just to level up once and continue the process. SO, nope, no more MMORPGs for me for now. I'd prefer some strategic RPGs, offline or so, turn based or SRPGs but I'm rather contented by SHMUPS games for me. Basically, SHMUPS stands for shoot em' up games which preferred by me, are bullet hells. So games like Touhou tends to get my hyped up just to clear a stage or to capture certain spellcards. Typically, bullet hell games is kind of like you having a large game screen and the bullets just fill the entire screen in a certain pattern and all you got to do would be to dodge them since you'll be dead in a single hit. R-type was hard enough for a single life shooter game and bullet hells just takes them to the whole new level. How I wish there was a remake for R-type on PC :X really did loved that game.
Spotted this picture over at animesuki forums, which I'm getting very excited about.
Weiss Schwarz Madoka Magica!!!!! I was honestly disappointed when I first saw the Madoka series being on Precious Memories, since I don't really like that card series, even Chaos TCG looks better than Precious Memories IMO. Will definitely get my hands on this series as well xD
Though I have yet to actually play WS, their artwork proves to me that collecting them would be awesome as well. Just getting foils and stuff really intrigues me :D So now I have been collecting the Angel Beats! series, which was *unfortunately*, paired up with Kud Wafter, so hopefully the madoka series would be a standalone :)
Restarted the resketch after some editing to the original illustration and I'm currently finishing it, about 1 more day would do, so I'll upload the completed RS as soon as I complete it.
The horror series: "Another", has recently begun airing, at first glance at its very 1st episode, it really lifts up one's expectations that this is going to be a rather great show. The bgms were placed nicely to create the ghostly atmosphere and a bunchload of secrets were all thrown in very quickly. Looking at how it turned out to be, I'm rather satisfied.
Similarly, Nisemonogatari had started airing as well. I'm really glad I'm able to watch a sequel to such a wonderful and amazingly unique anime series. Sure, dialogues mainly fill up the show but with their perky animations and wonderful characters, its a sure watch for me! I'm still wondering though, was Bakemonogatari so much dependent on FS? definitely there are but their in a kinda different way than the other series WHICH is why I like the -monogatari series. Would see how it goes and I'm still waiting for BRS to air!!! The PV was totally kickass :P
Honestly, staying at home is really mundane, hopes for good weather to start heading out again! :)
Just 2 Madoka MADs I'll leave here for today, both are really well made :) Enjoy!
Friday, January 6, 2012
First Week of 2012
It has been about one week since my last entry, well, nothing much did happen in this 1st week of the new year, just a couple of recovery days at home and a couple of outdoor cycling :)
Sadly for this week, there aren't any new anime episodes (for series that I'm following) being released as this is the new year week, so possibly new series such as Kisemonogatari, BRS and Kyousogiga might come soon most probably in the next week. So for the anime series of the previous season, it was actually a rather disappointing season after all. Looking at the rather horrible conclusions of C3 and Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, and also the still ongoing Guilty Crown and Last Exile, they were all actually disappointing. Last Exile had a few good episodes but by a few, I really do meant a few. The "feel" of how Last Exile should be seems to be lost in this new sequel with much more plot developments (which are rather bland), and less Last Exile style combat which I dearly miss. Guilty Crown had kicked back with a 1hr recap episode which IMO, is: WUT?!... The plot was good but the developments ain't good at all, it just feels that the 1st few episodes of Guilty Crown were actually the best and the deterioration had continued till now. I would not be dropping this 2 series until they really reach a point of no return so I really do hope the series would buck up much much more.
Re-read through my completed collection of Puella Magi Madoka Magica's manga adaptation and it actually did follow the anime itself quite closely.
It was a short and sweet 3 volumes, with 4 chapters each, with each chapter covering exactly one episode. The major difference I could actually see was that the manga depicted the series much much more darker than it actually was with more violence and gore. With reference to Mami's death, the manga had actually showed the aftermath of her demise which was ignored by the anime itself and also with Kyouko's fight with Octavia (Sayaka's witch form), she was stabbed through.. yea, THROUGH, by Octavia's sword and was all beaten up before joining Sayaka in the end. What I actually do like about the manga was the small extra pages at the back that depicted a scene not shown in the actual anime, where Madoka and Homura reaffirms their friendship. It was short but a very sweet ending to such wonderful series.
As reviewed by many, "Madoka Magica really re-defines the Magical Girl series and if you had gave the series a miss due to it being a magical girl show, it is truly a mistake"
Leaving that aside, I won't be actually enjoying much of the new series of the new season since I'm enlisting in NS on early Feb so I'll continue to update here when I have spare time. More about the slowdown of entries would be disclosed when my enlistment arrives. :)
So in this brand new year, I was "rewarded" with a sore throat on the very 1st day of 2012. Had stayed indoors for the 1st few days of the week too and after much recovery, out I go to hit the sun!
So armed with sunblock, me and my friends went on a long distance biking journey from Pasir Ris to Waterway @ Punggol. In the afternoon, the strength of the sun was clearly deadly and after the previous long distance trip to ECP which led to a rather bad sunburn, a lesson was learnt (for me) to actually be equipped with a layer of sunburn. So OFF we go to out destination which actually took about more than an hour, after some stops here and there to look at the scenery WHICH is actually quite good. The connector, I believe, was just made ready since we do spot some little constructions here and there and also it looked really brand new. The previous time we actually went there, the path wasn't ready so this time, it was.
And here are some photos I took along the connector and stuff, with a handphone cam, so the quality wouldn't be that good:
It was all hot and glaring but it was great overall, which all the slacking and chatting and playing etc, that's what I really do call a holiday :)
Yesterday had been a rather happy day for me, good start of the year perhaps? :D
Had just received a gift from a friend yesterday which I am honestly elated and surprised as well. I was genuinely surprised when he told me he got me a gift from his Japan trip as I really didn't expect it at all. I was like "WOW... a first imported thing direct from Japan!!!" Yea, it was a "thing" since he kept me in the dark on what it actually was and I was expecting something like a souvenir or some sort which I would appreciate equally but after he handed me the gift yesterday, the 2nd level of surprise came in:
this:
I was honestly kinda speechless when I first saw this as I honestly wasn't expecting this at all. Talk about a pleasant surprise! :))) Really really really thanks ALOT dude! :D Arigatou yo!
So this has officially become my very 1st PVC that I actually own (of about this scale), and due to the lack of a proper storage place, it shall remain in the package until I find one. HAPPY :)
Well, the rest of the day was another slacking session around the park, missing a "would-be-fun" low tide and continued spending the time at the cafe there, which is a familiar spot for us too :)
OK. Enlistment's coming up, new seasons arriving, re-sketch is not done, left aside as I really do not know how to shade using only a pencil, restarted learning some songs on the guitar, so far progressing quite smoothly and Life's Great now :D
Mami Kawada - Jellyfish (with video from Index, which the song was used as an insert)
I want to meet
I want to believe
I want to touch it
I...
shinkai o samayou kage
kyoufu to mayoi to saigishin
sotto kasa o hirogeta
kokoro kakushiteru jellyfish
tesaguri de ou yume
yukue sura shiranu mama
ten to chi mo miushinai
hikari no michi sasu hou e
ai saretai to negai
ai suru koto osoreta
konna ni mo itooshii no ni
kimi wa shinjitetai
shinjitsu ga aimai ni
kawatteshimau kurai nara
nannimo shiru koto nai
hikari mo todokanu hou e
I want to meet
I want to believe
I want to touch it
I...
Sadly for this week, there aren't any new anime episodes (for series that I'm following) being released as this is the new year week, so possibly new series such as Kisemonogatari, BRS and Kyousogiga might come soon most probably in the next week. So for the anime series of the previous season, it was actually a rather disappointing season after all. Looking at the rather horrible conclusions of C3 and Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, and also the still ongoing Guilty Crown and Last Exile, they were all actually disappointing. Last Exile had a few good episodes but by a few, I really do meant a few. The "feel" of how Last Exile should be seems to be lost in this new sequel with much more plot developments (which are rather bland), and less Last Exile style combat which I dearly miss. Guilty Crown had kicked back with a 1hr recap episode which IMO, is: WUT?!... The plot was good but the developments ain't good at all, it just feels that the 1st few episodes of Guilty Crown were actually the best and the deterioration had continued till now. I would not be dropping this 2 series until they really reach a point of no return so I really do hope the series would buck up much much more.
Re-read through my completed collection of Puella Magi Madoka Magica's manga adaptation and it actually did follow the anime itself quite closely.
It was a short and sweet 3 volumes, with 4 chapters each, with each chapter covering exactly one episode. The major difference I could actually see was that the manga depicted the series much much more darker than it actually was with more violence and gore. With reference to Mami's death, the manga had actually showed the aftermath of her demise which was ignored by the anime itself and also with Kyouko's fight with Octavia (Sayaka's witch form), she was stabbed through.. yea, THROUGH, by Octavia's sword and was all beaten up before joining Sayaka in the end. What I actually do like about the manga was the small extra pages at the back that depicted a scene not shown in the actual anime, where Madoka and Homura reaffirms their friendship. It was short but a very sweet ending to such wonderful series.
As reviewed by many, "Madoka Magica really re-defines the Magical Girl series and if you had gave the series a miss due to it being a magical girl show, it is truly a mistake"
Leaving that aside, I won't be actually enjoying much of the new series of the new season since I'm enlisting in NS on early Feb so I'll continue to update here when I have spare time. More about the slowdown of entries would be disclosed when my enlistment arrives. :)
So in this brand new year, I was "rewarded" with a sore throat on the very 1st day of 2012. Had stayed indoors for the 1st few days of the week too and after much recovery, out I go to hit the sun!
So armed with sunblock, me and my friends went on a long distance biking journey from Pasir Ris to Waterway @ Punggol. In the afternoon, the strength of the sun was clearly deadly and after the previous long distance trip to ECP which led to a rather bad sunburn, a lesson was learnt (for me) to actually be equipped with a layer of sunburn. So OFF we go to out destination which actually took about more than an hour, after some stops here and there to look at the scenery WHICH is actually quite good. The connector, I believe, was just made ready since we do spot some little constructions here and there and also it looked really brand new. The previous time we actually went there, the path wasn't ready so this time, it was.
And here are some photos I took along the connector and stuff, with a handphone cam, so the quality wouldn't be that good:
It was all hot and glaring but it was great overall, which all the slacking and chatting and playing etc, that's what I really do call a holiday :)
Yesterday had been a rather happy day for me, good start of the year perhaps? :D
Had just received a gift from a friend yesterday which I am honestly elated and surprised as well. I was genuinely surprised when he told me he got me a gift from his Japan trip as I really didn't expect it at all. I was like "WOW... a first imported thing direct from Japan!!!" Yea, it was a "thing" since he kept me in the dark on what it actually was and I was expecting something like a souvenir or some sort which I would appreciate equally but after he handed me the gift yesterday, the 2nd level of surprise came in:
this:
I was honestly kinda speechless when I first saw this as I honestly wasn't expecting this at all. Talk about a pleasant surprise! :))) Really really really thanks ALOT dude! :D Arigatou yo!
So this has officially become my very 1st PVC that I actually own (of about this scale), and due to the lack of a proper storage place, it shall remain in the package until I find one. HAPPY :)
Well, the rest of the day was another slacking session around the park, missing a "would-be-fun" low tide and continued spending the time at the cafe there, which is a familiar spot for us too :)
OK. Enlistment's coming up, new seasons arriving, re-sketch is not done, left aside as I really do not know how to shade using only a pencil, restarted learning some songs on the guitar, so far progressing quite smoothly and Life's Great now :D
Mami Kawada - Jellyfish (with video from Index, which the song was used as an insert)
I want to meet
I want to believe
I want to touch it
I...
shinkai o samayou kage
kyoufu to mayoi to saigishin
sotto kasa o hirogeta
kokoro kakushiteru jellyfish
tesaguri de ou yume
yukue sura shiranu mama
ten to chi mo miushinai
hikari no michi sasu hou e
ai saretai to negai
ai suru koto osoreta
konna ni mo itooshii no ni
kimi wa shinjitetai
shinjitsu ga aimai ni
kawatteshimau kurai nara
nannimo shiru koto nai
hikari mo todokanu hou e
I want to meet
I want to believe
I want to touch it
I...
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