Autumn 2008 Wrap-ups: Toradora!, Index, and Clannad After Story

So I have finished watching these three anime, although I’m too lazy to wonder whether OVAs will be out or not. But what’s finished is finished, time to wrap ‘em all up and anticipate the next season coming. And it’ll be brief.

Ami-chan, Ami-chan. Just, what are you?

Before I begin, have a nice wallpaper of Ami originally modified from the OP’s screenshot.

First I saw this, then I read this as well, makes me get finally motivated to have a say of my own. And I once started from this.

… I must say, the recent episodes of Toradora! have shed Ami in a new light on me myself.

(WARNING: Spoilers ahead so read full post at your own risk.)

Dengeki Gakuen RPG: Cross of Venus

And so I randomly lurked and posted around the Net and find this neat stuff for a… um, freak like me…

An interesting find.

There you go. Title is: Dengeki Gakuen RPG: Cross of Venus.

So, what is this shit?

Dengeki Gakuen RPG: Cross of Venus is, a game, obviously. And it’s for the Nintendo DS (WHY!!!!?? I WANT IT TO BE IN PSP! But it’s fine by me though). Now what is it all about? It tells of our hero (he’s unnamed, so if you guys get the game, PUT ANY NAME YOU WISH FOR HIM! By the way, he’s designed by Kuroboshi Kouhaku, Kino no Tabi’s illustrator) who, along with his childhood friend Kizuna Kasugai (illustrated by Noizi Itou. This Kizuna girl is a novel freak XD), attends a fictional high school called Dengeki Academy (school name is obviously because of the game title).

From left to right: Our unnamed Hero and Kizuna Kasugai.

One day he accidentally discovers rumors of a ghost which have been appearing late at night in the schools recently. Although he’s actually uninterested in so-called ghost stuff he actually uses the story as an excuse on a night where he attempted sneaking into the school. But somehow Kizuna discovers him (I think that’s what happened, I never had a chance to take a personal insight of how the storyline goes) and when she heard that our Hero here is going to look for the ghost, she with her craze for the supernatural intended to follow along with him. And so they went for a lookout for the said ghost…

They searched until they came to a bench in front of their campus’s store, and from there they got to the door of the store and opened it. In the darkness they saw a silhouette of someone moving inside there. After a hard time trying to pierce the darkness with a normal eyesight our Hero found out that the silhouette is eating something like a Meronpan and deducts that this is the ghost that people that the people have been talking about…

And the ghost is, when we speak of Meronpan it’s of course…

Hero: “ZOMGWTFLOLBBQ!?” Kizuna: “OMG IT’S SHANA~~!!!11one” *fangirl mode ON* Shana: “*munch munch munch* LOLWUT? *realizes who discovered her inside* O HAI.”

YES! IT’S SHANA.

And from Shana they discovered that there has been some shit going on that makes the novel worlds and the real world to become interconnected towards each other enabling people from each realm to cross over to another and so. Apart from that, they discovered that this is the works of an evil organization called Zetsumu whose aim is “to snatch away the smiles from every person”. So along with Shana and several other heroines from the other 7 novels involved (I am not sure but from what I hear it’s not going to be only 8 as how the main site indicated, but somehow dozens of them from the novels), our Hero and Kizuna began assisting them in their quest to combat Zetsumu’s evil aims.

So THIS is what you’ll be fighting for… I mean, not achieving what you see in this pic. THE GAME IS ABOUT PREVENTING THIS! Recognize the silhouettes? If you do then get ready to play Hero-kun.

That’s how the story goes.

Character page from the game’s official website. And who do we see here…? It’s Shana (Shakugan no Shana), Kino (Kino no Tabi), Kana Iriya (Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu), Index (To Aru Majutsu no Index), Dokuro-chan (Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan), Aisaka Taiga (Toradora!), Nogizaka Haruka (Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu), and Minakami Misao (Asura Cryin’).

At first I thought the game will be turn-based, but it’s not. You have some combos to perform with each character you use and every single one of them will have their specific weapons and/or abilities to fight against enemies (So you guys think Haruka can’t fight. Remember ‘o’ remember, that she can, just look at the earlier parts of Nogizaka Haruka series), and from what I see from sample screenshots our Hero can also jump into the fight, although I am not sure what he can do.

Screenshots? Ask and I will give. (Oh snap this is going to take me hell of a time doing this!!!)

I chatted with a particular friend about this and his comments were: “This game… urg. For the promos, looks like as if the original illustrations were copypasta’d into it, doesn’t show any interaction between the characters… and the in-game graphics looks like… I’m having some RPG Maker flashbacks here, no offense. I’m not a graphic whore and knowing the game’s platform is for an NDS I couldn’t expect much, but still… the graphics looks like the old SNES, they could’ve done better. And if only the illustrators for the series go into a collabro doing one single promo poster for the game maybe I’ll have a different impression on the game itself.”

“I actually hate water but I like swimming.”

I don’t have any positive or negative views on the game myself, as I set myself to being neutral until I manage to get my own hands on it and try out the game myself. Seeing that this is the first ever crossover I’ve ever heard – well, not the first time hearing “crossover” in general but if it’s these novels – THEN THAT’S MY FIRST TIME EVER. I wonder how each character will interact with each other and what will the storyline’s outcome be (MOST IMPORTANT!).

I do hope there’ll be a brand new promotional picture showing the characters interacting with each other, though. But, as far as I recall there’s one or two fanarts depicting the game itself…

Okay end of story. It took quite a long time for me to write this one whole article about a simple game…

Sources: Wikipedia, GameWatch Japan, Official Game Site

Links: Wikipedia Entry | GameWatch Japan | Official Game Site |

Trailer (I just got this so yeah sorry):

Every sources I use here is copyrighted to their respective orders. (I’m too tired to cite source names any more!!!)

One more day on a random basis. Subject?: LIFE.

Random rants coming up. Also some manga/animu/novel stuff.

Remember this? Regarding my suspicions on the reasons why Ami likes to tease Ryuuji so much, often in direct view of Taiga and the others… MYTH BUSTED. Oops…

My suspicions were way off than what I have been revealed to. Even so, I do not mind, because my goal wasn’t to predict (and/or wish) for a RyuujiAmi ending in any media Toradora! might be, let it be the novels, manga, or anime.

All I wanted to know was Ami’s feelings towards Ryuuji. How is it like? Just a bit? Or maybe passable as “like” already? Or reverse? That’s all. One thing’s for sure is that she can’t just use him as her personal toy forever, that is. Okay end of blah blah blah mode.

So basically this morning was another normal Sunday morning with an atmosphere so quiet it’s hard to tell that the day has started. And yet I’m one of these few individuals spending time outdoors awake… or rather, I was awake since last night… hoping to finish some downloads but was later turned down by them because they have no subs. Shit. And so this is one of the stuff you could define as “Shit happens.”

I want to sleep yet I don’t feel like it. I wanted to do so much stuff yet this freakin’ internet speed here sucks so bad I just couldn’t stand up for a bit in anxiety. And here I just realized some things I would want to turn to reality.

• Live alone in a decent house, bet it an affordable renthouse or a good make of a house, much like how you would see Taiga’s apartment; although I’ll strive to make mine more organized. Let it has an atmosphere of emptiness or maybe… a bit lonely, but that’s a solitude in a way.
• Work my asses off on my own couch, behind the desktop. Self-employed or either a work that allows me to just stay at home, with a decent pay I could buy practically what I would usually buy, but that means my job has to make me… filthy rich somewhat. Or at least close to buy every necessity as well as spending some of them for my own wants. Or in other words… always have money for anything (and everything) at all times.
• Enough furniture to make the insides of a house REALLY look like a house and not just some temporarily-occupied home in which you move in and have a mess with your bags.
• Do my own cookery whenever I am not eating out, and also perform all other housework well. Right now cooking is the only thing I am not very good at. Oh, and I got to stock up on multi-repairing skills, too.
• A car to travel around whenever I want or need to. Be it a cheap one or a Lambo (too wishful thinking here), or whatever passable as cheap or luxury as long as I can drive.
• And of course, a neat, powerful PC for around 97% things I want to do with it (games + CG + everything someone could do with a PC)
• Have constant fast broadband Internet connection so, when combined with everything of the above and whenever I leave my PC for a while for some business I’ll feel more secure because: the Internet is always on and I’m a one-man tenant in my own house (or renthouse) so I don’t have to worry about getting someone in my way when I’m doing something with the PC.

And as we snap back into reality, we wonder why do we live in a cruel realm which, even if you don’t mean any trouble they will create one for you. And I feel bad for the exile of 2 kittens (which I did myself, albeit in the most “impolite” way possible) which suddenly entered my room as I was trying to take my sweaters to withstand the cold night before the sunrise.

… And suddenly System of a Down’s songs are turning into a lullaby here, luring me to sleep. WHAT!?

Who’s Ryuuji to you, Kawashima-san…

(Text first, eyecandies later. I’ve seen way too many RyuujiTaiga arts, so I wonder if there’s any RyuujiAmi besides from what I gather from the novels?)

The very one simple question I’d like to have this answered.

Right now as I gather a couple of information in my hands, I’m starting to get myself speculating hints of the existence of RyuujiAmi in the novels, although I need to have this confirmed by myself. And of course, with the current information I have I won’t be able to accept a pass of “false” in this case.

What I can summarize from my knowledge as of now, note that this is just my views and speculations…(SPOILERS AHEAD SO PLEASE CLOSE YOUR BROWSER IF YA DON’T WANNA READ KTHXBAI):

Ami, with the knowledge that Ryuuji is taking care of Taiga and that he likes Minori, is jealous because he almost always pays attention to these two and not her. So she tries to attract his attention, albeit in a way that makes us all want to kill Ryuuji for being such a lucky bastard to be teased by her in such a… um, suggestive way; as well as being envious with Taiga. But I believe she didn’t make any moves against Minori because so far only Taiga who’s always on a lookout for a fight with her, while this is not a case for Minori.

And one more I can think is: in volume 4 of the novels Ami caught Ryuuji entering the bathroom while she was there, and with that, suggestively provoking him to “do what he wants to her” and promises to keep it as as secret from Kitamura, Taiga and, especially, Minori. Heh, what am I thinking here… is that if Minori knows about this, she’ll hate Ryuuji, and then with the Palmtop Tiger left to be taken care of, Ryuuji is basically free to be taken by Ami. How devious, although I wonder if she really thinks if that can really make Minori dislike Ryuuji to the point that Ryuuji is free to be taken by Ami herself (seriously you have to do MORE than that, my dear Kawashima-san).

And several more information which I forgot the description, but are valuable information in my cause (in proving that Ami does have feelings for Ryuuji).

Anyway. That’s all I can gather up to this point. I do hope the Baka-Tsuki guys can perform another splendid job though. I would like to give them a hand but… until reading Japanese is like a piece of cake like how I read my own language and English, I don’t think I am confident. But I can always learn though (thank goodness these guys introduced to me Rikaichan) and am still learning it as I continue my hobby of watching anime.

And here’s some gems of the mind I just thought of…

“Truth is, there can never be the best all-rounder anime ever around; if there is, no more people will like anime.”

I will edit this later if I can add more into this little “Innervision” of mine though.

Fall 2008 Anime: First Impressions (Update no. 1)

I promised myself some review stuff in my own blog and here I go as another stuff I promised myself.

So I picked up lots of new series and, much to my rejoice, there’s much to enjoy since Summer 2008 which only got me following up 2 series (at first it was 3 with Sekirei included but later I dropped it before I discovered the might of my main campus’s own Internet. Still, I left it dropped). And here’s my piece of mind for these series:

Toradora!: They stayed true to the novels (sorry earlier that was a mistake), however it seems that they’re rushing it a bit. Art style isn’t so satisfactory but isn’t a pain in the eyes to see. And Kugimiya Rie as Taiga complements Rie’s Round Table of Loli-ish Tsundere which is now occupied by the likes of Nagi (Hayate no Gotoku), Shana (Shakugan no Shana) and Louise (Zero no Tsukaima) and such, although this time Taiga is actually more towards of a dojikko (clumsy girl) than a tsundere.

Akane-Iro ni Somaru Saka: With loads of famous VA I don’t know what the studio is thinking. However it managed to please me nevertheless; or is it that I’m such a sucker for a visual-novel-into-anime adaptations, moreover a harem one at that? And again, Rie is our star playing Yuuhi Katagiri, a yet another tsundere although she turned into one quite late in the first episode unlike the others who’re already a natural tsundere.

Kannagi: Awesome Nagi is awesome. At first I simply put my lowest expectations for the anime, but seeing the first episode I think I got to slap myself for not acknowledging how good it was. Long live Nagi-sama! Oh, by the way Nagi’s starred by Haruka Tomatsu, who sings the OP and ED as well as (formerly) Lala’s voice in To-LOVE-Ru.

Shikabane Hime Aka: I was actually looking for some “psychological chemistry of boy and girl” (romance of course) between the two main characters, and although hopes were faint I don’t blame the story for it’s main themes were supposed to be what it is meant to be: you see a zombie girl being “killed” first before she gets back from the dead killing her “murderers” with a dual machine gun. Wait, what? DUAL MACHINE GUNS? Oh yeah, dual MAC-11 for the win.

To Aru Majutsu no Index: Again another underestimation from me. First episode was awesome, and man I can’t have Komoe-sensei, Index and Misaka out of my heads. Especially Komoe-sensei. Argh, her cuteness and the whole anime itself killed my will to drop the series

Yozakura Quartet: Plus this, I think I may have misunderestimated the coming of this season’s titles a bit too much. I usually pass over the OP since I don’t like waiting for the OP to end, however, the BGM used for this anime is… I LOVE GUITARS ROCKIN’ ‘EM HARD, PERIOD. And this is what held this anime special to me. I don’t quite favor the art style for both the anime and manga (possibly another reason I stayed away from this series at first, apart from the title which makes this anime sound as if it’s about a group of four playing violin/cello/etc together in an orchestra band) but later everything I looked as bad vanished when I evaluated my overall first impressions for this series, just like that. And the initial information I first gathered for this anime… man I WAS TRICKED! Akina does seem to not have any power but that’s actually a facade. And currently there’s no “chemistry” I can hope yet for this anime although there’s hope for it (HELL YEA). So this definitely goes into my watchlist. Yeah!