31 January 2010
Once again, I've been lousy with updating, but this time there's something concrete to show for it! Site has been updated to a newer version of Flux, thanks to the wonderful web genie of Hypnopixel, and you know what this means? (Other than a lot of reformatting of bad symbols.) COMMENTS.
\o/ /o\ o// \\o \o/
So now you can leave comments, pointing out all of my mistakes and typos and grammatical sins, or possibly also harrass me when I leave the site alone for too long. It also means the format of the main page is changing slightly, as the comments feature only turns up on the archives pages.
The system is still new and may have a few bugs. For now, comments are moderated, meaning they will only appear on the site when I swing around and approve them. I will approve more or less anything so long as it's not illegal, isn't spam, and is legible. Later, we can set it up so that regular users can have an account and don't need go through the approval process, but we'll see what the demand is first.
Click here to try it out!
Brainstorming at its Finest
25 December 2009
I've found yet another example of one of the ridiculous 22,000 products that has, for some inexplicable reason, had Hello Kitty's iconic mug plastered on it. Behold, the Hello Kitty drain hair catcher.
The war continues!
How does Sanrio's licensing department even come UP with some of this stuff?
On the other hand, an excellent gift for the Hello Kitty hater in your life. Merry Christmas!
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Vampire Knight Review
29 November 2009
I haven't forgotten about the site! It's simply that I've been working on time-consuming projects, which may or may not eventually wind up on here. In the meantime, here's a review.
Only recently did I finally cave in and watch Vampire Knight, a 13 episode mini-series by Studio DEEN, and adapted from the popular shoujo manga. Timely, as vampires appear to be going through another phase of popularity in mainstream culture. It's set at a prestigious academy that runs both a night and day class. As you may have already guessed, the night class is made up entirely of vampires, kept separate so they don't get overwhelmed by temptation. Of course, the fact that they are vampires is a carefully kept secret, guarded by the two prefects - the protagonist Cross Yuuki, and her adopted brother Kiryuu Zero, who hates vampires. The night class is controlled by the presence of the pureblood Kuran Kaname, who Yuuki has a childhood crush on, and struggles to reconcile this with the knowledge that they belong to different worlds.
Kuran Kaname, master of looking dark and mysterious on snowy/moonlit/rainy nights.
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Shakugan no Shana Review
21 October 2009
Shakugan no Shana is a 24 episode-long anime based off a series of light novels and animated by the consistently reliable J.C.Staff. It's already out, licensed, dubbed, the works, and there's an animated film and a second series and a plethora of other media works to go with it. I only just got around to finishing the first series, though, so here's a late review.
Shakugan no Shana boasts a fascinating premise. Existing alongside the ordinary world is the Crimson World, whose denizens are often embroiled in battles over the power of existence, the energy that forms the basis of the world. When Denizens steal this from living people, Flame Hazes � the guardians of the balance - replace them with 'Torches', which allows those existences to fade naturally by burning out over time. When Torches burn out, as is demonstrated at the start of the series, they're forgotten, their mark on the world completely erased. A death more complete than death.
Shana, the character from whom the series gets its name.
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A Night In Fantasia 2009 Report
6 October 2009
What is this? I still haven't finished writing up reports of 'all the cool game-and-anime related things from Japan', and here I am writing new reports for events here in Australia. Yes indeed, Eminence FINALLY held another concert in Sydney, after keeping soundtrack enthusiasts parched for nearly TWO YEARS.
The concert was held at the Sydney Entertainment Centre - quite a step up in size and prestige from previous concert venues!
Sydney Entertainment Centre, located conveniently across from Paddy's Markets.
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GenCon Brisbane 2009 Report
22 September 2009
GenCon was held in Brisbane this last weekend. So was Animania, actually (and who on earth had THAT bright idea?), but I had to make a choice, and since Animania Brisbane is a TINY, TINY affair, GenCon it was.
GenCon is actually more a gaming convention. There's a small anime presence, but the focus is mostly on LAN, card and board games, with a few arcade games and console demos set up around the place. Merchandise was on the thin side, but I did manage to snag a good deal on the Final Fantasy Dissidia trades, and there was no shortage of Yoshi plushies! Also, AN INCREDIBLY AMAZING FFXII GABRANTH STATUE:
It had an incredibly amazing price to match.
As for the rest of the con, the venue was excellent. The Brisbane Convention Centre has air-conditioning, and heaps of space so people weren't constantly tripping over each other. The only place where traffic tended to slow down was the cosplay events area.
Which brings me to the point of this post. We all know what everybody really wants is cosplay pictures! Nowhere near the percentage of cosplayers that you get at Supanova, but the ones who did turn up were quality!
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Summer Wars
15 September 2009
Normally the anime reviews featured on here tend to be woefully out of date. But for once, I can bring you a review rather hot off the presses, as this movie only recently finished airing in Japan! (And probably isn't even out on the internet yet, unless you're so desperate as to stoop to cam-versions...)
In any case, the movie in question is Summer Wars. And it's going to be the next must-see original anime film. From the same team as the people who brought us the instant classic 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time', and it's safe to say that if you enjoyed that movie, you'll enjoy this movie. Actually, if you enjoy movies of any sort, you'll probably like Summer Wars. It has that sort of broad appeal that only a handful of films manage to capture - the same perfect balance of happiness, sadness, action, comedy and drama, all wrapped up in a stunning visual spectacle that we rarely see outside of Pixar releases. This is one of those movies you can show your whole family, or you can show to your friends who aren't really sure about that anime thing, and if they don't love it they're secretly a robot. A robot designed to KILL YOU. Run away now while you can!
What's it about? It's about a boy being dragged out to the countryside so that a girl can show him off to her extended family as a pretend boyfriend. It's about a black sheep causing family drama. It's about a maths olympian inadvertedly setting loose a vicious AI on the World of Oz. It's about communication, the end of the world, and a grandmother's birthday.
The post is all I can show, since obviously, there is no DVD yet to take screen caps from.
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Have You Heard About That New Cat Cafe?
29 August 2009
Cat cafes aren't a particularly new phenomenon in Japan anymore, but they're far less well-known than the almost ubiquitous maid cafes and cosplay cafes. Aside from seeing giant robots, my latest sojourn to Tokyo included a directive to enter every weird cafe I found. Hence, Cat Cafe Nekorobi:
It's a den of adorable.
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Giant Robots Made Real
17 August 2009
There was a brief lull in updating! And then, to compound the drama, the site apparently went offline for a while! Consider both disasters averted, as our talented web genie made everything better, and the lull in updates was because I was once more in Japan. For a brief period of time, it was actually cheaper to holiday in Tokyo than it was in Melbourne! I took the opportunity to see a once-in-a-lifetime sight.
Yes, I speak of this.
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