Transition, and more light novels

Soon there will be a lot of things coming my way. It's gonna be a huge transition for me. I'm heading off to the land of Anime Expo, Otakon and Crunchyroll. You probably knew it from my last post, I'm heading to the States for college. I'll probably post one about my new room and internet after I got there, now I just want to think about what has been going on the past month.

It has been relatively fruitless, no active work, no active study, no active visual novel. I took the JLPT N2 in July, and it was, well harder than the mock test I got. Still I hope I can pass it. The preparation course was certainly helpful, since I got to learn lots of grammar, which I would otherwise never touch.

After the test, I started reading light novels (raw) again, and I was able to read much, much more fluently than before. Studying really helps. I finished the left overs of my impulsive spending in Singapore: Vol 1 of Shinigami no Ballad and Hanbun Tsuki. They were both quite worth a read. That lead me to reading Shinigami no Ballad, and now I'm at Volume 4 (volume 2 is already translated). The story was quite simple, with lots of conversation and furigana, so it's very easy to understand. They are all quite tragedies (or should I say mini tragedies), since you'd probably guessed it from the name, but nevertheless I do enjoy the nakige genre. Another novel that I touched is Accel World, since I was mesmerized by the author's previous work, Sword Art Online. The concept of virtual reality still plays a prominent role in this novel as well, but there's much more interaction and interconnection between that and the real world. Too bad the protagonist is much less GAR, compared to Kirito of SAO. I finished the last parts of volume 1, after the manga and started on 2. This seems to be a promising read.

The last time I checked AnimeCalendar, I was surprised (shocked also) to discover I had been following 10 anime this season. I really had way too much free time. Now it has dropped to about 5 (I think), and hopefully when I got on campus it will stay around there.

Looking at the last post, well it is really quite prophetic. I started working as QC for a group since last week (to say it more accurately I failed the editor test). You can probably find out which group it is easily using google. It is interesting to look at subs in a whole new way, to criticize instead of enjoy. Still it was much more bearable than English A1.

So that's about it. Hope to post next time from the US.

Light novel. Yes, light novel

Reading is nice. Absorbing. Exciting. Makes me feel that I am using my time effectively.
After 2 weeks of intensive light novel reading, I completed 4 volumes of Utsuro no Hako, Zero no Maria, 3 volumes of Sword Art Online and the whole of Mimizuku to Yoru no Ou. Thank you Baka-Tsuki and all translator for having worked to provide these for the community. (being a translator for one month I realize how time consuming, tedious and commitment-required it is. Sadly I don't process the qualities to make the cut)

It starts from a recommendation on Facebook. Utsuro no Hako that is. It has a great start, which is basically slapping incomprehensible information in my face. Before that I guess there is a nice cover. The story is basically a mystery, supernatural one, with some degree of blood and gore. Now that I think about it, the story strongly reminds me of Sharin no Kuni and G Senjou no Maou's style where there's always an unexpected twist at the end.

Of course after reading the first novel I'd expect a twist at the end of the second one, but everything turns up and down and left and right and after a while, I decided to turn off my brain while reading. Not a very exciting way, but certainly an entertaining way, as I can skip some logical and inconsistencies in the various time loops (oops I'm not supposed to spoil). In the end the four volumes make a decent stop, however still leaving plenty of room for a (coming, hopefully soon) fifth one.

After going around the few reviews available on web, I decided to follow up with Sword Art Online, as one of the blog suggests to me. It is, as described on the blog, 'cliched story and characters', with typical romance/adventure/MMORPG situations. Since I am a fan of ./Hack (I wish I can get a better grasp of the canon), I don't mind any of that, and the novel really did not let me down. (no, even without chapter 16.5, it's plenty interesting). The story is predictable, but still absorbing enough to keep me reading till the end, especially Volume 3 and 4. I was practically shivering as I read the few last chapters of Volume 4. Haven't got so excited since G Senjou no Maou. Regetfully Volume 2 is not fully translated, so I'll have to wait for later.

Lastly, the just-finished Mimizuku to Yoru no Ou. It won the Dengeki Light Novel award in 2009 (the top prize, no less), and it's one volume, fully translated. The story, pretty depressing at the beginning but began to shine more and more as it progress. Honestly I don't have much of an emotional reaction after reading it, no, not a reaction at all. Sad, I think.

That's it for the translated one. I think I'll proceed to finish the Hanbun Tsuki novel that has been sitting on my shelf for more than 2 years now. It'd certainly take a long time. A long time indeed.

On a side note. Real life. I just got my US Visa. That means all procedure cleared and I'm heading to Colgate University this August. I hope the anime community there is bustling. Maybe I'll join a fansub group, who knows?

Winter holiday activities

So the winter holiday has finally started. I have dozens of essay to write for my Uni application and that makes the day damn boring. Other than that it is looking very bright. I have good stable internet and a HDTV. Oh how I love the HDTV. Just watched Nanoha Movie 1st the other day and the picture quality is superb. The sound system is terrible though, but I guess one cannot have everything one wants. The second show I watched was Animelo 2009 on DVD. After sitting for an hour skipping to songs that I know, I realized watching a concert on TV is plain dull. I might as well turn on my ipod or do a youtube search.

I picked up a translation project of Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo last week. Yes, the glorious game reviewed last post. I am currently translating from the English patch. Not the best according to my philosophy, but that'll do for now until I pick up some PROPER Japanese. Speaking of games and translation, I still got about ten translated visual novel waiting to be played. Damn those supplements.

That said, let's do a quick review of Eien no Aselia. The game came out in the middle of the year (or last year), but I was apparently too busy with IB to give it some attention until the real exam :D. It turned out to be pretty addictive, and it almost devastated my econs paper. A good combination of RPG game play and our ordinary run-of-the-mill adv. A classic of its own right.

First CG of the game. Pretty isn't it? (yeah I know it's white)

First, the adv section. The sprite and cg are...let's just say kinda old for my taste. However they are shiny in their own way (kinda like Sekien no Inganock). I expect a typical high school drama game, but thankfully Eien no Aselia gave me a wonderful surprise. After 30 minutes of 'normal daily life', you are transported to an alternate world of sword-and-magic fantasy. That's not the only good part about the storyline. This is a game where common sense matters some what, and NOT EVERYBODY speak Japanese. That's just brilliant, how you play fifteen minutes reading and listening to not-internally-contradicting gibberish, only to be relieved of their meaning in the 2nd play through.

Sorry to inform you but she is not capturable

The user interface is common and there's no problems with navigating around the game. The love and mind system is truly refreshing, since Fate Stay Night. A combination of many choices that leaves me absolutely clueless about which route I am following the first time I played. The storyline varies slightly for each route and a significant portion at the end is reserved for each heroine. The story is not like Clannad or Sharin no Kuni, but they are still touching and very vexing. Yes, if you are fighting a war, you'd face as many dilemma as the protagonist does. That makes reading the story fun and exciting, and not just simply heart-warming.

Moving on to the RPG protion. Now this is the highlight of the game. A simple system but there are plenty of rooms for strategy, and getting SS on each and every level is not easy. It took me a lot of saves to clear the game the first time. A simple turn-based system with skippable animation.

That's the command screen for you. Imagine seeing this 100-1000 times

The strategy is simple, but you need to pay attention to your enemy if you want to beat a stage, not to mention getting good ranking. The RPG does affect routing of the adv section, so you have to balance between killing that group of enemies and pairing up with your desired heroine.

The sound is definitely a plus. The battle theme and regular daily life BGM are very decent, and the emo-ish one is also superb. Not as good as clannad but I could still get this game OST. Art is as commented above. Not shining in a moe sense but very beautiful.

Last and not least, H-scene. Hey did I just say H-scene? Sorry guys there's no H-scene on this English translation. It's based on the PS2 port with added scenario, CG and sprite, but no H-scene. If you want them, go get the DVD version, untranslated, of course. Some of them are really extreme, as there was an 'evil route' removed. You have been warned.

That's it for the review. This is definitely a recommended game. I'm gonna spend this holiday finishing the rest of the 7 routes of this game. Until next time.

Yume Miru Kusuri

interesting plot

After completing Cross+Channel it took me some time to move on to this next visual novel, Yume Miru Kusuri. It has been on my hard drive for more than a year but only till the last week I've started on the game. Thanks to my roommate sonximang recommendation, I set up hoping for another unorthodox storyline.

Well I kinda want a change of atmosphere halfway through the game. The plot is...erm unique in its own way, but it doesn't create a story with enough conflict and emotion for an outstanding game. That is to say, but the three main heroine routes are all very interesting and good to play, even though much more predictable than the last games I've played. They included the idea of pregnancy (hell I dont know where this come from), which is good for a H-game. It's not the only one I know of (I'm expecting the other one to come out too ). The story is painfully real, a bit too painful to read at times. Too bad it's a bit short with way too much H-scene. It's a good read in general, away from your typical school life romance, but way below excellence.

The art is quite nice from my point of view. I like the depiction of most characters except Mizuki's sprite, which is a bit emotionless at times. Again too much HCG. It contains about 3/4 HCG, which is useless for a normal playthrough.

The music is not superb, fitting to the scenarios at least, and convey some of the mood. I'm not gonna get the OST for this game. By the way I really hate how AkabeiSoft2 seperate the vocals from their Sharin no Kuni OST. Another way to rip off the fans.

That's it for this week. Hopefully I can finish Tsukihime soon and post some thoughts about it.

Sharin no Kuni and CROSS†CHANNEL

For the past few weeks, I've been doing nothing but reading these two. I must say they are both great works, especially in terms of plot (and I cant appreciate everything else). I never imagine I could get games of these qualities after Planetarian, Fate, CLANNAD and the like. Classics are generally better, now that games like Da Capo series are flushing the market, and there's a "anime bubble" bursting.
Enough of that crap, onto the review:

Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo (車輪の国、向日葵の少女）

"I cannot afford to waste time making money"
"The Child is the father of the Man"
"What force is more potent than love?"
"I close my eyes in order to see"

What captivated me at first were these (thankfully for they are) quotes, from the translation site. Not popular, not popular at all and you probably have to google these quotes out. They suggested a deep and probably a bit philosophical touch to the story, which turns out to be true.

The story, sets in a probably future, with a distinct political system. Sheesh the background would probably sounds ridiculouly stupid to some friend of mine (ahem). Quite effectively, they imposed 'obligations' upon individuals who commited a crime and force them to rehabilitate. The story revolves around our main character, who is under training to become "Special High Class Individual", people who guides the people with 'obligations' back to society.

So as not to spoil you (the few reading this blog :)), I'll try and be general. The story is not smooth and calm, typical KEY, but continuosly flowing with emotion and conflict. For the first time I've seen a two time twist in each herioine route, and for someone literaturely challenged like me, it was very impressive and touching. Each story is unique in terms of progression and content, as well as how they fit into the large plot. Stereotypes moe characters are more than they seem to be, and would keep you interested until the final twist unveils.

my favorite heroine

The music is superb, from casual conversation to emotional to fast-paced scene. The vocals are great, but I do hate the fact that they kept them from the OST. Beautiful scores, especially piano.
The art, hmm I dont really like how the character are drawns, the coloring has too much contrast. The sprites are great, even for stupid side characters (...Sunohara anyone?).

In general, it's a great game that you really shouldn't miss, and I'm looking forward to the fandisc translation as well. I wanted to read the fandisc right away halfway through the game. After finishing the whole game, I've decided to wait so as not to spoil a great work by my lousy Japanese...

My vndbrating 10/10

CROSS†CHANNEL

Moving on to a phenomenon I called "stupid fan-like reasoning", which caused me to read CROSS CHANNEL as it's also by the same translation group, Amaterasu. It's got good review and rating, but I didn't get a special impression like Sharin no Kuni.

the casts

The story starts off quite boring, and I was about to complain about the sypnosis spoiling it, after getting through the first week. And there's my impatient attitude to blame as well. The story talks about our main protagonist at a school for 'individuals who can't fit in society'. It's enough for an interesting plot. On the surface, simple characters, obvious stereotypes and typical ending. However, the narration quickly reveal the nature of the protagonists, as a member of 'Gunjou Institute'. Trully dark, ominous and psychological paragraphs about his thoughts and feeling (I've a liking to psychology :D). Not to mention his overwhelmingly huge database of lame jokes. It almost matches Fate/SN for the quality of thoughts and descriptive language Like before, each route is unique and fit really well into the main plot, even though the emotion is not as well presented thorugh the protagonists.

get used to it. it happens a lot

Music is not as good as Sharin no Kuni, except for the 'creepy' tone. Generally, I feel the music are more simple (in terms of mixes and instruments) and light-hearted. Only one vocal and not a very touching one. The art is lighter, which I'd prefer, and the depictions, although not stressed on moeness, still delivers the characters in their finest.

It's a really good read, even though confusing at times. It's recommended for those facing emotional difficulties (ok this's a joke)
My vndb rating: 8/10

For a conclusion (spoilers), both novel talks about people in relation with others, depicting different angles that may be overlooked (intentionally or not). If you can tolerate Plato (the philosopher) and/or Chaos; Head(the anime/game), it shouldn't be a problem for you.

Anime Festival Asia 2009

もう一回。Yay, once again I am participating in Singapore Anime festival, AFA 09. This year the preparation looks bigger and better, pre-ordered tickets available (so no more queue :), official website with more info and more events...The tickets for 2 days, however, is painfully raised to 20S$

The first day, I left without my camera, so not much could be done, the results can be seen in my album. Basically it's retail day. After 5 minutes for the crowds to squeeze in, it's a battle for the merchandise. Thank goodness I'm not well-financed enough to take part in it. The products this year are better (I think) with the presence of cospa and more retail shops. After the first hour scanvaging for cheaper solutions, I've gotten the loot you see below.

My loot for this year

Includes 1 set of CLANNAD figures, 1 set of Fate plushie and 2 tin can badges (the touhou doujin was bought on the second day). This's the first time I'm seriously taking pictures of cosplayers. The change from last year is so vast that I cannot believe I'm still in Singapore. No longer the plain shounen, but more and more and more are coming into the big picture (thanks to the appearance of Kaname and the regional finals perhaps?)

a rare sight, given the context

Wow! A Touhou cosplayer! I later realize she's from Malyasia, supporting her team. It's not the only surprise of the day. In the afternoon, after meeting up with my friends I spotted more and more Touhou cosplayers around. Not only those, but series like Pandora Hearts and Little Busters as well (they are technically staff but nvm...). Take the next few hours walking around taking photos with the cast of touhou.

even though I never clear her last spell in the game

Some camwhoring and then I spotted the sight of the day.

This shot makes my day

On day two, generally I have nothing left on my agenda and I spent the morning with my friends taknig photos of the booth and figures on display. Saw Yuka with her umbrella (this is much better than the song). And guess what? On my way back I spotted Senjougahara and Nanoha.Great way to end the day. The only regret is that they couldn't cosplay Marisa cos of the wig
It was a great experience and really worths spending 20 bucks on the tickets. My greatest thanks goes to the Malaysian team cosplaying Touhou. Looking forward to next year.
P.S: I hope more ppl can join me on the first day's scavenger hunt

Start of a blog

it's a good catch
Feel like starting a blog (again) today, and it happens that I dont need to go through 10mins of setting up with bloggers, so here I am.
Anyway, I'm currentlt stuck here for the next 6 weeks for the an attachment. I think it
s great but a choice would've been better. I really love last year attachment, my team mate and my mentor, and the time was great (not to mention I got to take part in AFA08 as well). I hope this year would be as much enjoyable.
Aside the school work that's always piling up on me, I find quite the chunk of games I want to complete. Just finished 2 routes of Sharin no Kuni, Himwari no Shoujo the other day. It was a GREAT game, on par with fate and planetarian (sorry my library is still quite limited). Charater design and music is not superb like other brand I know but the storyline is just great. Too much philosophy I think, almost on the verge of meaning of life and stuff. But in general quite convincing and realistic, while still retaining the novelity and random funny. I wont give a sypnosis, you can find much better ones on google, but I guarantee I cant wait to play the fandisc, might as well start playing it with agth.

(sorry, too much math in my head)

Currently updating ai sp@ce, and even though I cant read half the menu I want to give it a try. Looking forward to AFA09 this weekend, the reason I've been saving on my meals all year.