Rupee Shards

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Created By Desbreko

I will compose your greatest scene

A few days ago I finished Kaleido Star: New Wings (aka season two) after blasting through it even faster than the first season. It held up just as well as the first season, though I've concluded that I like the first a little more. I find the initial character development of Sora, Layla, and the others more interesting than the follow-through of New Wings as Sora tries to stay on her feet.

The first time I watched New Wings, Leon kind of annoyed me but I've taken more of a liking to him now. And the thought of me and Dagger meeting up at an anime convention some time, cosplaying as Leon and Sora, kept popping into my mind. How perfect would that be? I've totally got the hair for cosplaying Leon so if I happen to find a shirt like his (the black, sleeveless one with the big collar) I'll probably have to go for it since the rest of the outfit would be fairly easy—except for the earrings, I'm not piercing my ears.

If someone mistook me for Sephiroth I might have to slap them.

While I'm posting images, I finally got around to making this animation. I had the basic idea for it the first time I saw that scene but I never got around to actually doing anything with it. This time I couldn't resist.

I started watching Genshiken next, which is a hilarious portrayal of life as an otaku. I'll probably post more thoughts after I finish it but so far it reminds me of Welcome to the NHK except with a light and humorous spin instead of a dark and morbid one. I'm enjoying it a lot.

すごい

I just finished re-watching the first season of Kaleido Star. This was my second time watching it, and of course I plan on starting the second season again soon.

After I watched the series once it went straight into my top five anime list because of how utterly amazing it is. I had some lingering doubts, though—would it be as good the second time I watched it? Replay value is a large factor in how I determine my favorites so I wondered if it would be able to hold onto its spot in my top five. Now I'm happy to say that it's only solidified its grip.

It's exceedingly rare that an anime remains just as funny, exciting, or tear jerking the second time I watch it. All of them in my top five come close because, like I said, I weigh replay value heavily, but I think Kaleido Star pulled it off the best. A few parts were less interesting because I remembered all the major story events but most still kept me on the edge of my chair, still made my eyes get misty, and the ending was still literally breathtaking.

I hope season two remains just as amazing the second time as season one was.

Bits of Des

Contrary to my low posting frequency, I actually think of subjects I could write about somewhat often. I'm just too lazy to bother most of the time. So here's an assortment of the recent ones all at once:

Aria Love +1

Aria the Origination, which aired last season, finally finished getting subbed and with that the Aria series ended. It's a beautiful and wonderful series and, like Dagger, its ending had me alternating between grinning like an idiot and crying tears of joy.

Aria the Animation (the first season) got licensed and is being released in a sub-only set with all thirteen episodes for about $40. This is totally for the freaking win because, like, I can actually afford it since they aren't price gouging with single DVD releases and making me pay for a dub I don't care about. It's being released in September and more of the series is supposed to follow after that. The only reason I haven't pre-ordered it yet is because I'm trying to decide if I should pick up some of the manga at the same time to save on shipping.

Zetsubou Fight!

Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei also finished getting subbed recently. Anon releases had been trickling out for a while but I hadn't bothered watching any since I was still holding out hope that a.f.k. would continue subbing it. My patience finally dissolved when the last episode was released so I got them and picked up at ep5. Amazingly, the anon subs were actually pretty good.

I really missed the insanity of Zetsubou Sensei—it was my second favorite show from last season, after Aria. I'm still hoping a.f.k. will continue their subs at some point but going ahead and watching the others was totally worth it. Here's to hoping for a third season.

Oh, and the Hatsune Miku cameo was amusing.

Miku Miku

Speaking of Hatsune Miku, I've been hunting down a few more songs. This one titled echoes (Nico Nico, YouTube) is my favorite out of the latest ones I've downloaded. Though a torrent popped up on one of the sites I watch for new anime releases with a Miku song titled マケナイワタシノコイノウタ (Makenai Watashi no Koi no Uta) which is also pretty good.

Also, zomg, Miku playing a harp.

【初音ミク】「泉の女神」～月夜の森にて～【3DPV】

Nico Nico version: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm3264508

IMMA CHARGIN MAH LAZER

I've been watching Magic Knight Rayearth in between new releases and catching up on shows from last season and I came across this:

Last time I had to add both the lazer and the caption. This time, only the caption. The prospect of this pattern continuing excites me.

MP: 0/90

I haven't played FFIV any more since my previous post about the Dark Elf. I've been distracted by a free, month-long reactivation of my PlanetSide account and I've also been playing Guild Wars more often again. Apparently PlanetSide is undergoing a server merge later this month, which will result in there being only a single US server instead of two, for east and west. (And I think there used to be three US servers in the past, before I started playing.) The game's community always had plenty of doomsday prophets predicting its demise ever since I started playing but now I'm starting to think they might be right.

The Tower of Zot is up next in FFIV which, in my experience, tends to be one of the harder dungeons in the game. It's just barely scraping half way through the game but a sudden jump in monster strength combined with not having a dedicated healer in your party really does a number on you. You've got Tellah who, while he knows pretty much every white magic spell, is capped at 90 MP and thus can only cast thirty Cures or ten Curas before he's out; and you've got Cecil, whose Cure spells are really weak. If I'm really on top of things I can make it between save points without resorting to using Ethers (yay for Tents) but it's very difficult.

Mochi Mochi Pon Pon

Every time a new episode of Aria the Origination gets subbed, it makes me remember what the term moe really means. There's just no other word that can describe the feelings I get when I watch the show. And having to wait weeks between episodes (I was almost to the point of hunting down some raws before HnK released ep10) has amplified that by, like, ten times.

Now please excuse me while I hug my Aria-shachou plushie and wish for ep11.

Spring Anime

The spring anime season has started and I've been checking out quite a few of the new shows. I posted a thread on OB to talk about what people are watching this season so I won't repeat myself here.

Other than that, I blazed through both seasons and the OAV of Maria-sama ga Miteru after finishing Mahoromatic. It was starting to get a bit old by the end of the OAV but, considering that it held my interest firmly enough for me to watch it all within a couple weeks, I think that can be forgiven. Strawberry Panic was the only other similar series I'd seen before and Marimite was way better than that.

I started on Popotan after Marimite and I'm almost half way through it so far. And, yes, I am watching it because of the Caramelldansen thing. (Though the dance is from the game's opening, not the anime's.) It's not as explicit as the game but still retains the ecchi theme. That aside, it's plenty amusing and Mii is freaking adorable.

If anything could make me scream, "Kawaii!" like a crazed fangirl, Mii-chan would be it.

And, in case you haven't heard, I made a Caramelldansen skin for OtakuBoards. Even if you can't admit it, you know it's awesome.