AFA 2013

The day has finally arrived, with AFA 2013 running for 3 straight days for the very 1st time. Would start updating the site soon after AFA's coverage, so stay tuned!

Hiatus.

Will be heading overseas for an exercise starting tmr and won't be back till late Oct which means this blog's gonna be on hiatus until then, which means I'll be missing nearly all of the start of the Fall season 2013 :X

Oh well, things have not started yet but I'm already looking forward to coming back :D

optimism optimism optimism 

I've already got so many things on my mind, things to do etc, the moment I get back so I really can't wait for this last stretch to be over :)

AFA 2013 has been confirmed to be a 3 day event, with the exhibition area open on all 3 days and Anisong concert on all 3 days as well. Already got tickets for myself for anisong on friday and sunday (different tiers though), so I'm definitely looking forward to that, and not forgetting a friday headstart at the event unlike the previous years... which also means more goods to see! Aw man, can't wait for AFA to arrive this year!~

Oh and not forgetting my pre-orders of ChaOS coming this month as well (perhaps I'll talk about TCGs some other day) soooo I'm pretty excited to collect them when I return.

So till then!

Disconnecting from the world, be back soon! :)

刀語 Katanagatari

Adapted from its light novel series, Katanagatari's plot revolves around a mysterious ancient swordsmith that created 12 Deviant Blades which are scattered across the country. It is said that these blades contain a certain "poison" that inhibits its owner, making them claim absolute ownership of the blades. Our protagonist Yasuri Shichika, is a swordsman who excels in Kyotouryuu style which doesn't require him to carry a katana as he himself is the katana. A female strategist Togame heads out to scout for Shichika and the duo begin their journey in collecting all 12 Deviant Blades.

A pretty neat and organised storyline but when coupled with such a unique animation style, this series really stood out from the rest. Aired in 2010, this series wasn't a usual weekly series like the others, but of a monthly one instead. Every episode was 50 minutes long and in accordance to their airing frequency of once a month, the plot in the series moves at the same pace, where every episode features a month in the Katanagatari universe. There was a rerun of this series earlier this year but I didn't quite catch it until a few days ago where I took 2 days to finish the entire series. It was definitely worth the time in terms of how the plot moves and the final climax of the story about swords was really a big twist.

Every episode focused on a specific Deviant Blade where Togame and Shichika would journey to retrieve that blade. Fights are inevitable to collect them and it is really nice to see how the battle scenes are animated, in terms of how the animation department could've tweaked the animation design of the characters to suit the more elaborate fighting scenes. No doubt it was enjoyable to see how Shichika uses his own Kyotouryuu style to defeat his sword-wielding opponents and the different techniques that he used really makes you think that you're watching a martial arts series.

The concept of having 12 Deviant Blades created with perhaps, concepts from the future, really makes this series as interesting as it seems to be. Especially in terms of each blade's hidden ability, it's really cool to see them all in action over the 12 episodes.

Yasuri Shichika, the 7th Kyotouryuu Head, is our male protagonist in this series. At the start of the series, he is introduced as an individual who knows nothing about the outside world as he had been exiled together with his father and sister to an island after his father became the hero of a rebellion in the past. Shichika thinks of himself as a katana and does not seem to inhibit basic human behaviour where he takes down enemies without a single thought and killing them even when the situation doesn't require him to.

He was sought out by Togame who visits the island as she was looking for someone to help her collect the 12 Deviant Blades. However as she was continuously betrayed in the past due to the "poison" in the blades itself, she could not find people who work for honour and money as they are all likely to betray her once they get hold of a Deviant Blade and thus she seeks Shichika and asks him to fall for her so that he would work for her through love instead. It was quite obvious at the start that Shichika didn't quite get the meaning of "falling for her" or "love" in that sense, since he hadn't made contact with outsiders for a long time and was possibly thinking that it was a good opportunity for him since he was finally being used, as a katana. However, slowly through the journey in collecting the Deviant Blades, Shichika slowly changes and develops a more human side of him due to his interactions with Togame and the other owners of the Deviant Blades.

In the collection of the first 3 Deviant Blades, the Zettou Kanna, Zantou Namakura and Sentou Tsurugi, Shichika didn't spare any of the owners and had killed them off just to retrieve the blades. At that point in time, it was still obvious that Shichika still hadn't learn much of deciding for himself and acts totally like a weapon, a katana that belongs to Togame. It was until the retrieval of the 3rd Deviant Blade, Sentou Tsurugi from Tsuruga Meisai that Togame finally sees the fact that Shichika sees himself as a katana and not a human where he didn't hesitate in killing Meisai off, which to Togame, she shouldn't have to be killed off.

Shichika started to change after the 5th Deviant Blade, the Zokutou Yoroi which is in a shape of an armour rather than a blade itself and that was the first time where in the process of collecting a Deviant Blade, Shichika did not land a killing blow on its owner. For Shichika, his more human side of him started showing in the collection of the 6th and 7th Deviant Blade, Soutou Kanazuchi and Akutou Bita, where Shichika showed hesitation in killing of his opponent, especially Akutou Bita where his opponent was his own sister, Yasuri Nanami.

One of the most memorable and emotional fight was for the 7th Deviant Blade where Shichika's own older sister took hold of it and forced Shichika to kill her in order to get the blade for Togame. For Nanami, she had always hoped to be killed off due to her extreme power that renders her impossible to die no matter how close she is to death. Shichika showed many hesitations over the fight itself and until the very end, he finished the fight with tears in his eyes, with Nanami dying in his arms. For him, it might seem "normal" for the Yasuri family to kill each other since he had killed his own father and now his sister too. This was a little confusing since we do see Shichika hesitating to kill Nanami, but ultimately he did which made me wonder if Shichika realised what Nanami had wanted, which was to die, and had granted her that wish? Since it wasn't that obvious that he would treasure his sword hunting with Togame over his own family. Or perhaps it was due to learning that Nanami's actions that wiped out innocent villages just to obtain a power to lure Shichika out and force him to fight for the Akutou Bita.

During the collection of the 8th Deviant Blade, Bitou Kanzashi, the blade itself recognises Shichika as a human, which of course he is, only that he thinks of himself as Togame's katana, and Shichika becomes happy that another being has acknowledged the fact that he is indeed human and not just a weapon or a disposable katana. From the start to the end, we can see Shichika changed from an individual who sees himself as a weapon to someone who starts to think for himself, think about his own actions and make his own decisions. What Nanami calls him after developing all these feelings was that he, as a sword, had became blunt. From an outsider's point of view, if we're looking at Kyotouryuu being a pure art of fighting which makes its users a true weapon, then it would be pointless to develop such feelings that makes a weapon hesitate in killing an opponent and it would go against how a weapon is supposed to be. However, we all know that Shichika is still a human and no doubt he would have human-like behaviours in time to come, which he did and it was all for the best.

In the later part of the series, it was revealed that Kyotouryuu was the ultimate Deviant Blade that was created and the first 12 Deviant Blades were merely pre-requisites to the development of Kyotouryuu.

Togame, the strategist, is a bubbly and lovable female protagonist that seeks out Shichika to aid in her sword hunt. She was hesitant at first to look for Shichika as it was the Kyotouryuu that killed her father during the rebellion period and the murderer was none other than Shichika's father whom he had killed before Togame managed to find him.

Upon acquiring Shichika as her katana, she gives him 3 rules to uphold throughout the journey: Protect the Swords, Protect her and Protect himself. Through the journey, it is seen that Togame possess quite an amount of intellect, rendering her useful in coming up with schemes to help acquire the Deviant Blades since she is unable to fight at all. Her most successful scheme so far was in the acquiring of the 7th Deviant Blade from Nanami, the Akutou Bita, which it was almost impossible for Shichika to win in an all out match with her and the only way was to "blind" Nanami by fighting in an enclosed room filled with candles and extinguishing them out when the fight began proper. Although it wasn't a fair win, but Nanami's eyes were far too dangerous and poses a serious threat to her and Shichika, well she did lose a large portion of hair during that fight so I guess that was a huge risk taken.

Another similar use of her knowledge was from the retrieval of Bitou Kanzashi where she spent long hours figuring out the movement route of the blade, which took up the shape of a doll, and devised the correct strategy for Shichika to take it down and obtain the 8th Deviant Blade.

At the very start of the journey, Togame did ask Shichika to fall for her so that he'll work for love which she believes is something that she will not be betrayed on but she herself did seem to develop feelings for Shichika as well. The most evident in the collection of the 9th Deviant Blade, Otou Nokogiri. As the owner of the sword didn't wish to fight Shichika when he is unarmed, which he is supposed to be as he uses Kyotouryuu, Shichika was forced to learn how to use a sword in her dojo. And every time when Togame goes and find them in the dojo, she always find them in easily misunderstood situations and become jealous when Shichika returns to her at night.

Togame's catchphrase was "Cheerio!" and she would always do that when punching Shichika when she's feeling down or embarrassed or just wanting to shout something. She had misunderstood that with "Chesto" which was supposed to be the correct phrase rather than "Cheerio", which meant "goodbye". Of course she ultimately realises her mistake but continues to use it since it already seemed innate to her. And of course since she was attempting to write out a story that reflects that sword hunting journey, she comes out with a catchphrase for Shichika which he uses it in the end "However, by that time you'll have been torn to pieces."

And then, the plot twist just had to arrive and delivered something expected:

HEAVY SPOILER AHEAD, DO NOT READ IF YOU'RE INTERESTED TO WATCH THE SERIES YOURSELF.

WHY TOGAME... NAZE DAAAAAAA :'(

Yasuri Shichika showed the most emotions after Togame's death under the 12th Deviant Blade, Entou Jyuu. Truthfully speaking, that was the most emotional moment throughout the entire series. I didn't quite expect Togame to bite the dust after she was shot twice in the abdomen area by Entou Jyuu, but I guess it was the blade's properties that made her wounds fatal. Over the last 12 months of travelling with Togame, no doubt Shichika would've shown some affection for her and indeed he did, with tears and a sense of lost after he knew that Togame might not pull through. It was painful to watch Shichika screaming for her as he didn't want to lose her like how he lost Nanami and Togame, to him, was his last family member and without the wielder, how can a blade survive? After all that talking about travelling together after the collection of the swords are complete, now with Togame dead, how would Shichika continue living when all his life his sole reason in fighting was for Togame. It was a great emotional impact when Nanami was killed but this is on a totally level. I did expect some good ending between her and Shichika, where the duo would continue to journey together and to complete a map of Japan which Togame suggested but they just had to kill her off :(

What came more surprising and plot breaking were Togame's last words. She revealed to Shichika that she had the intention to kill him after the journey was over and everything were only pawns to her. She included her own feelings, her own side of loving him, and even Shichika himself to be mere pawns which she controlled in order to finish the collection of the Deviant Blades. Perhaps it was the hatred towards the Kyotouryuu that made her think this way, or perhaps it was the multiple betrayals that she had encountered before to make her weary of her partners. Well, for someone who had been betrayed that many times, it would be perfectly normal for them to think of a countermeasure in case she was betrayed and this time, it made her seem that she didn't actually believe Shichika at all, or maybe that too was just a pawn as well?

After revealing to Shichika her true intentions, she gives Shichika her final orders, which was to forget everything about her and to live on by his own decisions and asks him if it was alright for her to fall for him before she breathed her last. What it seemed to me was more of a lie in Togame's lie itself. Honestly, for someone who says that their own feelings were all a lie, it makes it very hard to believe after seeing how she acts in the entire series, all those care and concern for Shichika didn't once seemed like an act. She really did seem to have feelings for Shichika although her inner self might have qualms about it since Kyotouryuu was her arch enemy but nonetheless, I believe that their mutual feelings were true.

A cute couple together that were torn apart in the end, now that really is too much :(

After a burial of Togame, a grieving Shichika storms the final castle alone, breaking all 12 Deviant Blades on his way up to the Shogun. With Togame gone, he no longer have to uphold the promise of protecting the castle and had stormed it with an aim to be killed by Togame's murderer, Emonzaemon. However with Shichika no longer have to hold back his abilities and to protect the Deviant Blades any more, he cuts down Emonzaemon and heads to the Shogun, killing him with a "Cheerio", in memory of Togame and the history changes. All those flashbacks of Togame really made me felt sour watching this, it is really a pity seeing how a wonderful pairing such as Shichika and Togame to be torn apart at the last moment...

Ultimately, what I see as 2 major flaws in the series was the all trolling episode of collecting the 4th Deviant Blade, the Hakutou Hari. From all the introduction to its owner being the strongest in Japan, I was really looking forward to a well coordinated fight between Hakuhei Sabi and Shichika but that didn't happen, at all. The entire 4th episode was showing how Nanami rips apart the ninjas that were sent to assassinate her and until the very end, it was just passed off that Shichika had won and had retrieved the 4th Deviant Blade, without showing anything related to their fight at all. And that was the first big disappointment in the series.

The next one revolves around the existence of Princess Hitei. We do know that she's the descendant of the swordsmith of the Deviant Blades, but what does her existence make in the series? I don't see anything that she could have played an important role in the series and only start sending Emonzaemon off to help her complete various tasks. At the very end, I wasn't holding much grudge over her character after it was revealed that she did not order Togame to be killed as she does not exactly hate her and it was a sole action by Emonzaemon. That wasn't the only weird part where she played a small role in the series, but of what happens at the end. Where she began travelling with Shichika who now inherits Togame's dream and begins to draw a map of Japan by himself. Now that makes me scratch my head and wonder why is she there. A character that has little plot development suddenly become a part of our main protagonist? Furthermore she wasn't exactly a friend since she was always loggerheads with Togame so that really came out pretty weird.

Nonetheless, this series had been extremely enjoyable, it had a good ending, but not one that I would have hoped for. I wouldn't call it a happy ending nor a sad one, but a satisfying ending instead. What this shows is a journey where it shows people changing through multiple interactions with others, how people might betray each other in terms of finding power and control, and of course not forgetting the cute pairing that our protagonist are. With a unique animation style, an interesting storyline, a powerful twist and a hidden back story, this series does prove itself to be something worth watching. Kudos to Katanagatari!

MJP. A hero has been born.

Hitachi Izuru - A New Hero

From the very start, this series had a rather unique feel as compared to other mecha series. As compared to series like Eureka Seven or even the Gundam Franchise, this series stood out as an action-packed but yet filled with numerous punchlines, and not forgetting our 5 main lovable protagonist that "grew" as time went by, from the Zannen Five to the heroes that saved the world. At first glance, this series reminded me of Macross Frontier, in terms of not just their plot but also in terms of their mecha animation sequences.

At the beginning, this series started off with our 5 protagonist being labelled as the Zannen Five due to their absolute lack of teamwork and adaptivity but were chosen as a team due to their extremely high aptitudes. There were part of an academy that trains them to become pilots of device units by nurturing them from young and removing of all past memories from them. The five were later given new units called the AHSMB and begun their small missions through protecting satellites, restoring some of them and infiltrating enemy bases which resembled aliens. Little did we know that all these were just a distraction or a disguise to what is in store for the series as a whole. The real plot finally begun right after the 5 of them graduated from their school and the fight for humanity begins.

It was later revealed that their enemy, the Wulgaru, is an ancient race that has kept themselves "updated" through finding organisms with better superior genes and hunt them to increase their own gene quality. Now that's a rather beastly course of action but that's really an interesting enemy rather than just some other normal alien race or something appeared without reason and without any purpose in their attacks. To me, the Wulgaru race seems to act like an autonomous device or something, looking for patches to update itself.

Through fighting countless battles and gaining comrades and inevitably losing some as well, humanity finally reached the platform to halt the war once and for all, the Wulgaru Gate. The Gate acts as an access point for the Wulgaru to enter the solar system, kinda like a warp or some sort, and by destroying it would mean that the Wulgaru would not be able to attack Earth any longer, until they get a new Gate that is. With everyone's hard work and perseverance, the Gate was taken down, Izuru became a hero he always wanted to be and Earth regained peace, at least for a period of time.

Looking back at the series, there were still many questions left unanswered, perhaps hinting to a 2nd season? And some scenes that seemed like they were adding new elements to the plot turns out to be something less significant that it should have been and was quickly thrown aside.

On of such is the existence and origin of Teoria herself. What we do know from the series itself is that she's a Wulgaru that doesn't approve of their so-called "hunting" and has given Wulgaru technology to the humans, enabling the development of AHSMB units. It was later revealed that Izuru shares part of her DNA which she had given to create Izuru. Now what confuses me is that if she was the donor of her own DNA, then what exactly did she mean that she had "known" him since a long time ago just that Izuru does not remember it? Could it mean that Teoria had visited him in the past when he was young before, or did they meet before Izuru's memories were wiped. And regarding the truth on the memory wiping, if it was indeed done, would it mean that Izuru was created and raised until a certain age before his memories were wiped and before that Teoria had been taking care of him? Well that could be a possibility but if Izuru and the others were created, shouldn't they make them at the exact same age that they wanted instead of wasting time raising them up if their sole purpose was to fight. If so, then when exactly did Teoria and Izuru met?

Next would be on the JURIA system itself. What we know of the system is that it protects the pilot through the feature of emphasizing on pilot safety which the AHSMB unit will move in accordance to protect the pilot, not just the pilot controlling the unit itself. It also helps to amplify the pilot's will which would help to further enhance the unit's capabilities. In the later part of the series where Izuru's Red 5 awakens, it is learnt that the AHSMB units have their pilots' DNA linked to the JURIA system itself, which would make the units a counterpart of their own pilots? After Red 5's awakening, it is seen that the system does seem to have an independent will different from their pilot's which "overclocked" Izuru's body, making him suffer from a kind of genetic mutation that might prove fatal if he were to pilot the AHSMB again. This independent feature of the JURIA system was confirmed in the last episode of the series where Izuru become unable to control his own fighting instincts and the AHSMB unit itself. Throughout his battle with Jiart, it was more of the AHSMB controlling him and not the other way round which was supposed to be.

Well that nearly cost Izuru his life, until the rest of Team Rabbits came forth and knock some sense into him. Red 5 then attained the true awakening when Izuru took full control of the AHSMB unit, and aliasing himself with the unit's will to fight, but to him, he fights to protect and not by instinct.

So what exactly is the JURIA system? In the last scene, Commander Simon even called Teoria "Juria" which could mean that Teoria is the creator of the JURIA system? And what exactly is Teoria's relationship with Commander Simon? The only similar fact is that both of them had donated their DNAs for the creation of Izuru and Asagi but the duo seemed to have a much deeper history than just that. Regarding the awakening of AHSMB units as well, why is it only Red 5 can achieve such awakenings? If it is in accordance with its pilot, then shouldn't Asagi's Blue 1 be able to awaken as well? Since both he and Izuru share the same DNA. If it was the unit instead, then why did they make Red 5 to be like that? What was the reason behind it. And if it was again linked to the JURIA system and their corresponding DNA, then Asagi's should work as well, which did not happen.

I had some speculations regarding Izuru's true self that could possibly be a Wulgaru after his Red 5's awakening, turns out that it was somewhat close, that he inherited Wulgaru DNA from Teoria, so that makes Izuru half a Wulgaru then. As our main protagonist, Izuru has always wanted to become a hero and that was his dream when he joined the MJP. In the eyes of others, his dream of being a hero seemed so fictitious that no one actually took that seriously and only turned it into a punchline. For Izuru himself, saying such things normally lessens the tension the team has. As a leader of Team Rabbits, he did show many skills in terms of protecting his own team and planning instructions for everyone to work together, at the same time not daunting the abilities of the others. Asagi would turn out to be a fine leader as well, but he does have his own strengths so perhaps that was why Izuru was chosen as the leader instead. From the start at the pool when he met Teoria, I would call it love at first sight, and later at a date with her, he does seem to have develop romantic feelings for her, just that he never did tell her how he truly feels.

For the viewers, it was obvious that Kei does have feelings for Izuru after episode 13 where she defended Izuru from verbal assault from Kuroki Ange, pilot of Black 6. I would have supported the Kei X Izuru development which didn't quite become obvious at the end but it was still great to see Kei rushing to get Izuru back to his senses. They do make a wonderful couple don't they.

Kugimiya Kei one of the more focused few of the 5 protagonist, in terms to her relation with Izuru. She is a fan of making sweets that really live up to their classification as sweets since her product sweetness are usually off the charts. In episode 15 after Izuru develops a split personality into a more "cooler" self, her feelings are made known to Izuru after she blushes when being asked if she likes him but unfortunately, her cakes are more potent then it seems to be.

 

With some cake testing done by Izuru himself, Kei "kills" off his split personality and returns him to normal once again. Food poisoning is one thing, but Izuru returning to normal is a good thing. Well, it's a real pity the two didn't officially become a couple but it's good that such feelings didn't all go to waste. (with Kei's pit crew cheering her to win Izuru over at the last showdown.

Talking about matching couples, what serves as the most emotional scene in MJP was the lost of Team Doberman, Patrick and Randy. As we all know, Patrick does have a crush on Tamaki and the moment he told the rest that he had something to tell Tamaki when he returns from the mission, he triggers his own death flag and never did returned from the mission. It was painful to see him calling out to Tamaki before he was cut down by the enemy and he never got the chance to express his true feelings to Tamaki but it was good to see that Chandra had delivered his present to Tamaki on his behalf and that was when Tamaki finally realised that someone who loves her had been so close to her just that she did not realise it and by the time she did, it was already too late. Like in my previous post, I wasn't quite expecting anyone to die in this upbeat mecha series that takes things both seriously and at the same time, having multiple punchlines and jokes but when such scenes do happen, it can be quite sour to watch after having seen Team Doberman for so long, ever since the start of the series.

The strongest point in this series itself is the mecha battle animations. Unlike the Gundam franchise, this series adopts the more 3D style of animation as compared to Macross Frontier but this wins Macross F hands down with its complicated yet lively manoeuvres that the AHSMB units are supposed to achieve. It is really a beautiful sight to the eyes watching the mechas battle it out in such detail. The first that MJP really kept me at the edge of my seat was in episode 18 where Team Rabbits were sortied to neutralise the Wulgaru attack on Earth which was led by Klein. Boy was that entire episode so focused on the animation and with everything coordinated beautifully, it was a joy to watch and a pity that it only lasted for such a short while.

Another strength of MJP was in terms of their differentiation with the other series that took the battles in a more serious tone and the characters to be having the "I-must-protect-everyone" kind of mindset which was unlike MJP which had this sense of family and friends feel while at the same time engaging the enemy.

In and out of battles, the series never forgets to add punchlines or to make some lame jokes in between to liven up the spirits which I thought was perfect for such a series and with our 5 main protagonist to be lovable students as compared to the more serious side of student to pilot in Valvrave.

The ending wasn't exactly a perfect one, it was more like a Psycho-Pass kind of ending where the true enemy hasn't really disappeared but the peace they attained was the best that could happen at that time. True enough that the Wulgaru did not exactly disappear, they merely just lost a gate to warp to the solar system which means that the risk still exist where a new gate can be built and passage will be through once again. But leaving that possibility aside, the finale returned to the most basic dream that Izuru had from the start of the series:

"To become a Hero."

and he did.

All in all, this had been a wonderful series to follow, with all the superb action sequences and the liveliness of the series, it really is indeed an enjoyable series. Thumbs up for a good 24 episodes and hopefully there is a follow-up on this :)

AFA 2013 & Fall 2013 Charts

AFA Main Website

And the details are finally out! Same as the past years, this year AFA would be a 3 day event, with Anisong concerts on all 3 days, and said to be minimal exhibition on Friday and the usual Saturday and Sunday with stage activities. For this year's AFA Anisong concert, the lineups are pretty much the usual for Saturday, with exceptions on both Friday and Sunday.

Friday's Anisong concert seems more catered to the Nico Nico side with Egoist, DJs Hachioji P and livetune. and also motsu X DJ Kaya. Among them, I'm less familiar with the Hachioji P and the final 2 but the other 2 are rather well known to me. For Egoist, her highlight would be presumably Guilty Crown songs, like the OP and perhaps she might cover Psycho Pass's ED song as well, maybe, just maybe, supercell would tag along? Who knows? :) Every miku fan would be familiar with livetune with the Google Chrome's Tell Your World song. Since he's not exactly a singer, I would guess that he'll be remixing Miku songs on the stage? Looking at his performance in Japan, I'm guessing it would be something like this?



Saturday's Anisong lineup would consist of Eir Aoi, the vocals behind SAO's 2nd OP Innocence, the all familiar LiSA and May'N. With only 3 singers taking the stage on saturday, it could posssibly be a rather good concert with more songs being sung by each singer.

What caught my eye was the Sunday's lineup, which instead of a normal anisong concert, it has been named as "Valvrave Night". And of course this year's AFA featured anime would be Kakumeiki Valvrave. Well that wasn't surprising after seeing how prominent the singers they found for their OP song. And of course the singers of the OP would be coming as well, with not just T.M. Revolution and Nana Mizuki (NANAAAAA! :DD) but angela as well. For all these 3 singers, as a fan of Nana Mizuki, she's finally coming to Singapore! YAY! :) Going for this day would mean an extra bonus from angela and T.M. as well so why not? My only "worry" now is that the 3 day VIP package for this anisong concert would be available for sale 2 weeks ahead of the normal 1 day VIP tickets, which would of course mean that most of the seats would be already taken up by the people purchasing 3 day VIPs. Well, I would just have to see the available seatings during the sale date itself. If it's still alright, then I'll just go for the VIP if not then just the normal standard would do.

For the event tickets, this years ticket pricing remains the same for the Event + Stage ticket, at $20 per day while the event only ticket has increased from $8 to $10. Sunday's E+S ticket would be included already in the anisong ticket so I would only have to purchase the saturday's one... Will have to see the stage activities before buying the stage access. Based on past experience, perhaps just the normal event ticket would suffice for the saturday's one.

That's all for now, so yup, looking forward to this years AFA experience! :)
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Fall 2013 Anime Chart

Click here for full chart

It does seem that there's this trend of good anime series being aired close to the end of the year, and of course, this year's isn't any exception. So among all, here's a couple of them that caught my attention:

Nagi no Asukara



Seems like a slice-of-life series coupled with romance and a little supernatural elements? Not quite sure about the supernatural part but the art and music looks and sounds good too.

Log Horizon



1st thought that came into my mind was "wa? another SAO?" truthfully speaking, this series does have some rather heavy SAO similarities. Adapted from its own novel, it is a story about players of a MMORPG getting whisked away into another world similar to the game that they play. Now that sounds rather similar isit it? Wouldn't mind to see another "gamer perspective" type of anime series but I think I'm rather sure that this wouldn't be close to the reality of SAO itself, with its own menus and logout options and stuff like that.

Galilei Donna



An original anime series by A-1 Pictures. Seems to focus on the descendants of the Galileo Galilei, seems rather mysterious at this point in time, but mystery animes are always good to go.

Kakumeiki Valvrave 2nd Season



Well, its about time they begin to explain whatever that happened over in the 1st season. So many questions left unanswered and so many new elements that were added in that made no sense. C'mon Ichiro Okouchi, please let me feel the same impact from this original story near the same level of Code Geass! :)

Tokyo Ravens



Similar to Log Horizon, I had a sense of nostalgia from Ga-Rei after watching the PV. Adapted from the light novel, the story revolves around the descendent of a certain occult practitioner who does not have the ability to see spirit energy, only to reunite with his childhood friend who is the next one to succeed his group.   Supernatural series? Definitely watching this!

Strike the Blood



1st impression as usual: Darker than Black... people with supernatural abilities? Animation wise, it looks promising too. And its the usual demon + slayer type of combination so I guess the storyline could be rather mundane

Kyoukai no Kanata



One of the most promising series in this upcoming season, and it's finally an action packed series by KyoAni! Their previous work on Chuunibyou got my tricked over its own preview that it was a kind of supernatural series, turns out to be a cute romance series that nonetheless was still great in that aspect. Definitely watching this too.

Little Busters ~Refrain~



And of course, the much awaited 2nd season of Little Busters! Possibly following the footsteps of Clannad, this season will unveil the true world that Riki had vision of in the 1st season. I don't expect the craziness and the happy atmosphere to continue long enough in Refrain and I bet many tear-jerker moments will be included in that. Definitely ready for the revelation of the true world of Little Busters!

Kyousogiga



The preview has been hanging around since 2 years ago and now finally after a couple of OVAs, its time for its TV series to arrive! Really unique animation style and storyline.

BlazBlue Alter Memory



Finally after so long, BlazBlue is getting its own anime series! Having finished their game in story mode, I can say that the game does have the potential to become a rather good quality anime series, unless they try to focus more on the character vs character battles which I believe will destroy the series, just follow the storyline and it'll be fine. Am still waiting for God Eater to be adapted too, that has an amazing storyline too so if BlazBlue has been adapted, I'm guessing it wouldn't be long before God Eater gets one too.

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And to end it off, here's a cute song from Nisemonogatari, Platinum Disco



and not forgetting the dance itself too. well the harmonica is awesome too :)

Hatsune Miku

初音ミク, Virtual Singer

Looking back, I first got to know about Hatsune Miku around 2008, that's like about 6 years ago and all the craze about her is still going strong, not only in Japan but also on an international level.

The first time I saw Miku was through this video I saw on Youtube:



What popped into my mind was "wait... what? just who is this girl swinging this leek around?"

That sparked my curiosity which later not just made me a fan of Miku but also of this revolutionary technology.

So just who exactly is this girl? Is she from an anime or a cartoon? A mere gif image? For those that have not yet heard of her, she is Hatsune Miku, a Vocaloid created by Crypton Future Media. Nope, she's still not an anime character, to be precise, she's a persona created for a Singing Synthesizer program called the Vocaloid Software. The Vocaloid Software is a program that enables users to make the program "sing" their songs for them. For example, one only need to input lyrics of a certain song into the program, adjust the pitches / tone / length to sing that particular note etc, and woola, you just made the program sing your very own song!

For each Vocaloid, such as Miku herself, she has her own special voice bank, with the voice data provided by a real singer. For Miku, her voice comes from a seiyuu, Saki Fujita. As Miku is a Japanese vocaloid, she isn't actually capable of pronouncing english words clearly, which later versions of her started to improve on that, until today's latest version 3 of Hatsune Miku which has her english capabilities enhanced.

For some people who hear Miku for the very first time, what commonly comes out of their mouth was that this singer's songs are all auto-tuned! Well, duh... This is a computer program singing, not a real person.

Then the next question would be, just how popular is she?

Hatsune Miku was mainly made popular over Nico Nico Douga, where people started uploading their own songs, sung by Miku, which then later included Youtube as well and Miku's popularity started climbing. Some of her more famous songs include:

World is Mine



Love is War



Melt



and the more latest few such as

Senbonzakura



Secret Police



Tell Your World



Not only did people contributed to the songs under Hatsune Miku, Miku has since made a difference to many. These are 2 examples for which I'm most familiar with: huke and Supercell.

Huke is an illustrator that has worked for companies before becoming a freelance illustrator and on one day he created this original character called Black Rock Shooter.

Ryo from Supercell took notice of this character and got inspired to make a song about Black Rock Shooter which later became a hit among many and BRS started getting popular spawning an original video animation or OVA for short, a TV anime series, a game and many other merchandises. Through the song, huke's illustrations caught the eyes of many as well and he was later drawing for the original characters of Nitroplus's Steins;Gate which also became famous for its amazing art and storyline and later spawned many merchandises as well. The song "Black Rock Shooter" was also one of the first few Miku songs that I've heard and I would say that I've waited many years before BRS got noticed by animation companies and decided to make an OVA for her. Boy was I happy at that time. I honestly wasn't expecting BRS to be adapted as an animation but was hoping that it would. And it did :)

Supercell is a doujin music group and consisted of singers, illustrators and song writers. The group started out by making music through Miku and released their first Miku album in 2008, which consisted of Melt, Black Rock Shooter, World is Mine, Love is War and many others. Sony Music later took notice of them after their songs became very popular in Nico Nico. Supercell later started to stream into the music industry as a actual music band, not only producing music with actual vocalists but more Miku songs as well. Most of the 1st few Miku songs that I've heard were composed by Ryo from Supercell so I guess thats why Supercell has that special touch with Miku to me.

It was only just in 2009 that Miku started to appear on the screens, and that was where the world got introduced to this "virtual concert". A projection of Miku moving about, singing and dancing along as though she was performing in a real concert while having a real band perfoming her music at the back. It was a revolutionary technological breakthrough that no one knew that even such virtual concerts could have such popularity. Later in that same year, Miku performed in her very first overseas concert here in Singapore at AFA 2009. It was a very short clip, wasn't an actual projection screen or a hologram-like concert, but nonetheless, it was amazing to see Miku "programmed" for Singapore viewers! My next concert experience with Miku was in 2011 where it was the real hologram-projection-screen concert that was made famous in Japan and they were bringing it to Singapore at AFA 2011. Nonetheless I bought the tickets which got sold out pretty fast, the management even had to open up more tickets during the actual day to accommodate more Miku fans!

I can still remember that day where I was frantically swinging my lightstick around throughout the whole concert and it was really an amazing experience.

Some people might ask that why pay so much to watch a concert where there is no actual person singing? Or why do you like such virtual songs? To me, Miku is more than just a virtual singer but instead, I see it as a separate music industry and a platform for many new music lovers who have the talent of composing songs but lack the ability to sing or to find someone to sing for them. Miku has also been a common interest and a common talking point amongst many with more and more songs appearing in Nico Nico and on Youtube and people listen and share those songs, making more and more people take notice of this amazing singer. Google Chrome took notice of Miku's popularity and made her a mascot:



In that video, we see Miku as a interconnection for people all over the world, connecting people. For a Miku song, a person in Japan could have composed the song, another person in another country could have come up with the dance step and another, her song video animation and another, possibly the background music. Even though they might not know each other but with Miku as the central pillar, many contributes to each other, creating this wonderful interconnected world of Vocaloid songs. To me, Miku is the core of many original songs, some may sound weird, some might sound slightly off-paced, some might sound so-so and some might sound catchy but all in all, they are all original songs produced by music lovers and I appreciate listening to each and every of those songs. For those who have yet to get in touch with Hatsune Miku, now is the time to do so! :)

And to end off, here's a clip of Miku's live concert in Taiwan:

Everyone, Creator

MJP: Unexpected Progression

Looking back since MJP started, it only revolved around these 5 teens who in their own Academy are known as the "Zannen Five" and through a turn of fate, became the pilots of high-end AHSMB units to help humanity fight against the Wulgaru invasion. For the first 12 episodes or so, it all seemed like a "happy-go-lucky" series, with them winning their fights in one way or another and not forgetting their numerous jokes carefully laid among every episode but now, MJP has changed its course of direction and is much more of a stronger series than it previously was. More action, more seriousness, more mecha and more emotions, this can only get better.

The plot was suddenly ramped up after the beginning of the 2nd part of the whole season, where I believe lies the true plot of MJP itself. So far what we had gathered based on the plot is that:

1. The Wulgaru is an ancient race that seek other genes (such as those of the humans) to better benefit their own kind
2. The AHSMB units are a variant of Wulgaru fighters and the information was given by a Wulgaru who favours the human race, Teoria
3. The pilot's DNA is mapped into the AHSMB unit that he or she pilots, resulting in an increase in battle ability when Harmonic Levels are high

For now, those were the 3 more important developments in the series so far that might be focused on in the latter part of the series. Teoria is basically still a mystery, all we do know is that she came to Earth with an intention that she wanted to protect the human race and that she had met Izuru before he had his memories wiped. Now lies the big question on who exactly is Izuru? How did he meet a Wulgaru in the past? I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the plot took a huge shift and making Izuru a Wulgaru. I mean, there's still this possibility isn't it?

With Izuru's latest battle with Jiart, it is made known that the "evolution" of the AHSMB unit is linked towards the pilot's harmonic level or emotion levels. In that heated battle, Izuru's Red 5 basically "awakened" or should I say "Izuru awakened", where the unit took a slightly different form and its mobility increased over the charts. What was explained was that Izuru's Red 5 was receiving more data to execute and its processing and movement speed cannot keep up with Izuru's reaction time. Talk about being superhuman... From there, we learnt that Red 5 had Izuru's DNA mapped into it as well which makes me rethink about the AHSMB units as a whole. It was like another "self" being the unit itself and while Izuru changes Red 5's JURIA system when his harmonic level increases, what would happen if JURIA system decided to become the one to change instead? The aftermath of that battle resulted in a Izuru of a totally different personality which gave the fact that one can change just by piloting the AHSMB units. Furthermore, the AHSMB units are looking more and more "organic" after seeing how much Red 5's frame changed. Are the units alive? What exactly is the JURIA system? An intelligient AI? Or perhaps another DNA map? The series ain't letting go much information on this one yet...

And to add on to the series mecha awesomeness, we have a latest addition to the ASHMB team, Black 6 and its pilot with a split personality. It was an interesting addition to the characters already present in the series and it was rather funny to see how the others had reacted to the sudden personality change. From being all humble and genereally refined, to a badass, vulgar and extremely skilled pilot. I ain't complaining about the new addition to team but Black 6 honestly looks damn cool with its own armaments.

When new characters come, old ones would have to go, and they had to leave in a rather painful format. I was feeling pretty sour after the last episode when they decided to almost wipe out the whole of Team Doberman when they were sent for a mission that they were supposed to risk their lives for. For the past 19 episodes,  we have yet to see any sad scenes or any that will make your heart wrench, but this time, it proved us wrong. In the latest episode, we lost 2 out of 3 of Team Doberman to the Wulgaru. Throughout the entire episode, there were constant scenes talking about their own future like Chandra and his fiance and Patrick going on about wanting to confess to Tamaki and all those promises of what to do after they return... There were so many death flags this time round that the moment they were given the order to sortie, I kinda knew that they won't make it back alive.

Their final moments together

Team Doberman was sent for a mission of utmost importance, where their success would mean a possibility to win the war against the Wulgaru. With common knowledge, the Wulgaru reside in another different universe and yet is able to come and attack the humans, which meant that there was some sort of a portal or a gate that links the two universe together and their mission was to locate such a gate. Things didn't go too well after they found a gate as they were discovered by the Wulgaru protecting the gate which nearly took them all down. Randy separated from the team at first to delay the fighters while Patrick and Chandra took the opportunity to escape and when things started becoming messy, Chandra decided to lag behind to ensure Patrick's safety, possibly due to knowing that he had an important confession to make to Tamaki when he gets back but that confession never made it. After almost dismembering Chandra's Rhino, Patrick's Rhino was sliced in half just when he saw Godinon and shouted "Tamaki". After Patrick's demise, an injured Randy rushes in to protect Chandra but his Rhino was no match for an entire Wulgaru fleet and he falls in front of Chandra. Godinon comes to Chandra's rescue and manage to save him together with Black 6 and with that, only one member of Team Doberman was left, Chandra, with a secured coordinate of the Wulgaru gate.

After the incident, it made me think about why Commander Simon had decided to send the Dobermans instead of the Rabbits, he too knew that the mission could be a one-way trip but after seeing how Earth was nearly invaded, he had to make a choice. But that choice only consist of one option, which was to send the Dobermans in. The mission was so risky that losing Team Rabbits would mean a total loss for the war and their 6 precious AHSMB units as well. It was unfortunate for the Dobermans but there wasn't much choice for Commander Simon to make as well. Perhaps he could have waited and equip the Dobermans with AHSMB units instead but the Wulgaru definitely doesn't wait till they are done and would strike before that. It all seemed too natural for the series to keep having the Dobermans in the spotlight and now I knew why. it was a strong build up for all their characters, make one love their team and now, they were killed off in a mission that had basically sent them to their deaths. It really felt sour seeing how Patrick died in his last moments still thinking about Tamaki.

If this series is truly 25 episodes long, then I would have some worries about how they are going to conclude this series if it's not going to have a 2nd season. There are too many questions left unanswered and there are only like 6 episodes left? I expect the JURIA system or the AHSMB units to be further explained in the next few episodes since we see Izuru going to more body check ups. Jiart's character is still mysterious, if he doesn't want genes, then I can't believe that hunting Lamatas is his only desire. What about Teoria who is still on Earth? Jiart definitely has plans to send some other Wulgaru to meet her so we'll see how that goes. How will the Wulgaru end the war if they yearn for human genes? It wouldn't be a success if the gate was destroyed which only delays the Wulgaru invasion and I don't see how they are going to make a peaceful treaty or some sort too. What about Izuru's past and him knowing Teoria? I'm definitely interested to know that. Who knows it there could be "Izuru is a Wulgaru" development? Man, I'm kinda looking forward to that :)

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