Anime Festival Asia - Day 1 (only)

As I mentioned in my previous post, it was last minute plan. But thanks to Kiru for helping me buy the tickets and booking the hotel. And I took the train all the way to Singapore, alone. Coincidentally I was in the same coach as a bunch of cosplayers but I didn’t actually talk to them.// You know, they have their own circle.

6 am: Kiru woke me up lol but I was already awake. But it’s hard to hop of the bunk bed since I had to sleep on the top.

7 am: Breakfast, before taking the MRT with Kiru and Kazami. When we reach the venue, there were many people already. Wow otakus and their dedication. I bet when it comes to 8 am class, we’d still be sleeping at 7.30

wakuwaku!!

8 am: already lined up in front of the entrance. It was hot. And crowded. Now we don't get to see these early birds coming to class, do we? The ticket booth was outside the hall, unlike in AFAMY and previous AFASG where everything is indoors.

9 am: We can go inside! Otakus were like wild animals released from a cage, but instead we’re going inside a closed area. And by the time me and the two guys were in, so many people were lining up at the SAO booth that Kiru gave up on it. Instead he and Kazami went lining up in front of the booth with Scandal stuff. So I separated myself from them and wander around by myself. There's a Rurouni Kenshin booth, where there's a life sized cardboard of Takeru Satou as Himura Kenshin, plus they bought the costumes used in the movie. I'm also heartbroken that Singapore will have the live action movie in their cinemas.... MALAYSIA Y U NO HAVE DISTRIBUTOR TO BUY THIS AWESOME MOVIE? And I found the K-project booth! It’s the first place I bought stuff (ironic that I once said I don’t plan to buy any merchandise!!) which costed over RM150. Also took a picture of 2D Isana, Neko and Kuroh…


10 am: I think I went to the doujin booth and got some KuroBasu badges. And later that time I went back near the K booth… where I noticed that the butler café was open, and there aren’t many people lining up. At that moment I already felt ronery cos I was bored… it’s not like I want to enter but well I went on ahead. For such a small cake it costs a LOT pfffftttt- but at least I got a nice butler to serve me. And guess what he is a fan of Fairy Tail too! Then we started fangirl/boy-ing about it XD

11 am: I went back to the K-project booth cos I was informed that there will be a cosplay session. So Kaname was there! I think I spent a lot of time there, lining up and waiting for my turn to take a photo of him. Unfortunately if you want to take a photo with him you have to pay like 50 dollars. Well, that’s one way to rake money.

12 pm: later at this hour I went into the stage. Amuse was presenting its segment, introducing their singers and actors. Plus, FLOW and Baby Metal came on stage as a teaser for tonight’s show. Seems there are quite a number of Baby Metal fans. Right, they’re cute and all, their songs sounds nice but the thing is they don’t play the instrument. So… nope! Anyway, most of the seats are empty. Even the ones in front row. i kept moving towards the front, and all the way to the middle. But still it was too far to get a close up snapshot. My camera ran out of battery, and i left the spare battery in the hostel =__=. At the end, there's Rurouni Kenshin stuff and also an extended trailer of the live action movie ksakhdskjhfskjdf aparrently it became a no.1 blockbuster movie in Japan, after the Avengers!!

waiting to be stolen by fangirls

1 pm: The moment I’ve been waiting for… it’s k-project segment! The director of K was there, and he talked about basically what we already know about the anime. But the best part of the event is the K Radio video, which is presented by Tsuda Kenjirou and Komatsu Mikako (seiyuus of the anime). Who talked about the terms found in K, which are “Battou!”, “Zugatakai”, “Seibai” and “Kizuna”. Then there was a K cosplay competition, where I think the ‘performance’ was quite interesting. I wish I had a good video for that. They were surprised that there were quite a number of K cosplayers, and there was only one neko who won the grand prize.

2 pm: I went outside for a bit, then came back in and… I dunno wander around?

3 pm: it was time for K’s T-shirt signing session with Go Nakanishi… unfortunately I don’t have the redeem ticket so I only watch the lucky 100 people line up. I was boiling with envy indeed. Rather than staying there I went walking around again…

4pm and 5pm: I seriously can’t remember what I’ve been doing at this hour. I know there was one time I was sitting on the floor watching people walk about lol. Yes I was alone goddammit. I went inside MUSE’s store, only to find that the Tiger & Bunny towel I’ve been eye-ing is sold out!! SERIOUSLY?? HOW MANY FANGIRLS ARE THERE!? Oh yeah I also met Volvagia356 while lining up to enter the store.

6 pm: Went back inside the stage area, just to watch the solo cosplay competition. I like the way they select the cosplayers, they were selected on the spot by judges. The judges were pro cosplayers from different parts of Asia. But I don’t actually like the way they select the winners. I was hoping for some… you know, solo performance where the cosplayers act in character as often seen in ComicFiesta. But the intermission of the competition was gold. Team Shikon (champion of WCS 2012) and Lunar Asterisk (from Indonesia) had a game of Janken. It was really entertaining watching them fighting to become the most kakkoi man ever lol.

7 pm: I think that was the end of it. I had dinner with some old friends after that.

Overall the event was great. Just that I wish I had my fellow fangirl friends to come along with me. I mean, imagine fangirling about K alone and seeing your fave characters in doujin/fan merchandise or someone cosplaying at them…. And you need to express yourself, but instead the friends pop up in your head whenever you see their fave character :(

 But then my main reason of coming all the way here is to watch T.M. Revolution’s concert. Or else I wouldn’t have come. I don’t think I’ll be coming to next year’s AFA in Singapore. I’m hoping that more great artists would come to next year's AFAMY.

And during the stage event I was disappointed by the lack of screaming… or just during certain stuff, only a group of fangirls or fanboys would get excited. But during K, even with the person next to me who seem to be liking K doesn’t get super excited. Well, there’s CF to look forward to :3

Also, during AFAMY (in the middle of the year) I thought Danny Choo makes a dull host but he seems more entertaining this time. Well, not that I attended AFA many times.

I like the spaciousness of the hall. If I’m not mistaken 1/3 of the hall is totally empty, and attendees can rest on the floor while cosplayers can do some preparations, touch ups and also take photos. One thing that could be improvised is uh… put some carpets or more seats so we can rest comfortably? I guess it’s too much to ask lol. Oh and there’s also food stalls and tables WITHIN the hall, so you don’t have to get out when you’re hungry. Except that you need to queue up. It’s not something easy to get in our homeland.

really large loitering area

There were times where I feel like going back to Malaysia that very moment. But I already bought a train ticket back next morning. No offense but whenever I come to Singapore I feel homesick the moment I set my foot on the soil. But I do like the country; people are so disciplined and the streets are clean and the MRT is super convenient! I guess it’s much easier to run a small country to set things straight…

so that means I don't have any report on the next day. I don't plan to see anything else, but I did wish I could stay for Fairy Tail's movie. But then i was running out of money.

here are the rest of the pictures I took. Nothing much, and don't add my facebook for no reason.

T. M. Revolution concert (AFA Day 0)

It was a last minute plan to attend Anime Festival Asia 2012 in Singapore. It was a surprise from mom and dad to sponsor me. in normal circumstances I'd reject this but they said it was a birthday present. So I'm just gonna accept it shamelessly. But I plan to go for only one day, and arrive a day earlier because the thing I want to see most is T.M. Revolution's concert!

[disclaimer: most of the photos in this blogpost do not belong to me]

On the night of 9th November 2011, I love Anisong (AFA) presented T.M. Revolution solo concert in Max Pavillion, Singapore EXPO.

I took the VIP seating (yeap, there's goes my money!) but too bad is in the back row. it's like watching the videos in the youtube, except that you get to enjoy the show with the rest of the fans around you. I couldn't see TMR close up, and taking photos isn't allowed. It's a standard rule for Japanese concerts, so I respect that (since I'm a true weeabo ww). Besides, my phone battery was running low, and i concentrated on enjoying the concert.

I didn't recognize the first few songs he sang, probably from Gundam SEED, although I listened to the songs prior to the concert. I didn't watch SEED nor am I a fan of the series.

The best part of the concert, is when he thanked everyone for the supportive messages after the (Tohoku Earthquake 2011) disaster. Then he said, "so I will dedicate this song to you..."

...

...

"ICHIZU NARAAAAA KONO YO NO HATE DEEEMO, MAMORU OMOI WA HITORI JA NAAAIIIIIIII"

The crowd went crazy, as well as I, cos it was so epic since the song is "Save the One, Save the All" it's so fukken related. That song is for Bleach's movie. Though I did not watch it, I love the song very much. And it's funny at first I did not like it but I'm sort of addicted to it right now.

He sang the rest of the anime songs, "Resonance" (Soul Eater), then all the Sengoku Basara songs (movie and anime). It was really amazing. I hope all the jumping burns a lot of calorie lololol. Also I sat exactly behind 2 rows of Japanese fangirls, and they look like they're in their mid 30s. But if you don't mind the face each of them has a body of a teenager. I mean look at those slim legs!! And they have a few wrinkles on their faces already! They know the dance steps. They know when Takanori is going to ask you to jump, and you have to squat before that.  

Finally, the last song (before the encore) is the moment I've been waiting for. Also another song he decided to "dedicate" to us. I almost cried when i heard the intro.

It was "Heart of Sword"

Memories of Rurouni Kenshin flashed through my mind while he sang, and it's the only lyrics I memorized among the rest. I was around 10 years old when I heard this in the anime's ED, and I fell in love with it while I was oblivious of the singer. As a kid, you know you want to memorize the lyrics of the song so I have it in my memory till now (as I grow older I became too lazy to memorize songs lol). It is one of the first few Japanese songs I liked, before I officially turn into a Japanese music fan. So I'm really glad to finally hear this particular song... the song that I have loved for 14... FOURTEEN years.... LIVE!!

*tacing2 kejap*

After the song, he left the stage. But the encore chant wasn't so convincing, wasn't so loud. I remember how loud it was during Kalafina's concert in AFA Malaysia, but this one is too unorganized and less wild. Man, you Singaporean's are so tame hwahahaha don't be so uptight!! (ok nothing bad about being civilized, plus I really like your country).

So he came back for an encore, 2 songs I also cannot recall listening to but still enjoyable. He changed into a simple T-shirt, along with his band members. Oh I haven't mentioned that the band he was with was freakin' amazing as well. So Takanori isn't the only one in the spotlight, in spite of being the solo. At the end the drummer threw his drumstick and i dunno who the lucky people who got them. I'm sure they'd treasure it for life even if it's not the main star of the show. Because, well, the drummer IS amazing too.

[spoils from Day 0. Bought 2 of TMR's album]



The whole concert is literally a decent strip show by Takanori. As usual he wore his flashy costume, this time it's white and you know... looks like a cross between military and Elvis Presley. After a few songs, he took of his trenchchoat. Then after another few songs, he took of another piece of clothing. It makes me wonder if he was going to strip all the way towards the end (and surprise us with HOT LIMIT). I think the guys are disturbed by his belly button exposure but heck, it was FANSERVICE!

So there's also UTAGE sold during the event, it compiles all of the Sengoku Basara songs. I'm glad it's my favourite game he contributes to.

[TM Revolution in Sengoku Basara form. That is SO him!]

It's sad that I didn't get autographs from him (only selected seat winners), I won for Minami Kuribayashi instead. But I don't care about her (and the other Anisong artists pfft-). I'd like to express my gratitude towards Choco-tan and Little Wolf for introducing me to Abingdon Boys School, and consequently leading me to love TMR. Also thanks to Kirua for helping me buy the tix.

Did I mention that the concert was awesome? Then i'm gonna say it again.

IT WAS AWESOME!

Also the concert was shown in nicovideo (oh lol I should've known cos instead of wasting money i can just watch it from the livestream), as well as the concerts on 10th and 11th November.

So that's all for Day 0, and TMR's concert alone. Will do a report on Day 1 event next.

Review: Natsume Yuujinchou (anime s1-4)

So I'm gonna compile all four seasons of Natsume Yuujinchou, since each seasons contained like 12-13 episodes. And I don't think there's much to say, although I really like this anime.

Studio: Brain's Base

Author: Yuki Midorikawa

Natsume Takashi is an orphaned boy (oohh look! another orphan!) who grew up being able to see youkais. As a child he often see the spirits roaming about, frightening him or trying to befriend him. As result he often freaks out too suddenly, that most of his classmates and distant relatives thinks he's a crazy kid who craves for attention. Now as a high school kid, he lives with an old couple who has no kids, and is living in some kind of countryside where he decides to improve his interaction with people.

He inherits his grandmother's stuff, and there's one particular item called "Book of Friends" where spirits had signed their name in it to become Natsume Reiko's cronies. Unlike his tough grandma, Natsume seems rather weak but he has one hell of a punch. But most of the time he seems like the heroine lol. Anyway, the consequence is, a lot of youkais are either attacking him or begging him to get their names back. Apparently the contract limits their freedom. Natsume, being a nice grandson in contrast to his grandma, willingly give their names back (And he totally looks beautiful while doing that). Oh let's not forget the youkai called Madara, who really doesn't approve of Natsume releasing the youkais, yet he's pretty much protective of Natsume. Yeah we have a really tsundere neko.

and i love how rounded he is

So the summary sounds kind of shounen-ish. But in fact it's just slice of life. Though there are times when the episodes feels so shounen cos in the end Natsume saves the day (or Natsume is saved etc). I guess the show focused more on how to deal with being a freak, how to act normal when there's something isn't right about you. Other than dealings with humans, even youkai had the chance to express themselves. The youkai characteristics varies; not everyone is good nor bad, and they have their own culture, habits and weaknesses that makes them so unpredictable. It's interesting to know that in Shinto belief, their gods come to existence only when people need them. And they slowly disappear when humans no longer pray at their shrine. I kind of felt sorry for the minor kamisamas.

The thing that impresses me is how Natsume coped with his lonely life and is trying his best to be accepted without telling people of his secret ability. Usually teens who were shunned like that would turn out into a delinquent, but Natsume grew up into a kind and gentle boy - both to humans and youkais. If the Fujiwara hadn't taken him in, he would probably become a rebel. On another note; Natsume should've joined the track team, he's been running around since he was small XD

effin' cute!

Throughout all seasons, we're reminded of how to get along with people in spite of being a 'weirdo'. There's no reason to become a gangster if nobody likes you in the past, and Natsume is a perfect example of that. And he's so considerate of everyone that it annoys me that he's too kind, but his short temper made up for it. Maybe ronery people out there should take a leaf out of his book.

Unfortunately, season 3 bored the hell out of me cos there aren't any name returning scenes. Season 4 was a tease cos I thought it's about time to know what happened to Natsume Reiko. That's the only thing I'm curious. And I'd like to know the outcome of finishing the name-returning ritual as well.

I have nothing much to say about the art. It's just simple and nice, no moe nor overly bishified characters.

except, maybe this guy

Looking forward to season 5 (i hope)!

Review: Tiger and Bunny (anime)

Oh it's been over a year since this anime ended.
Those good times where I, along with the the rest of the fangirls around the world anticipate our SUPERHERO SATURDAY for our favourite NEXT heroes.

Also, today is the 31st of October, one of the character's of this shows birthday so I think it's the perfect time to finally leave my two cents about Tiger and Bunny.

Studio: Sunrise

I gotta be honest with you that this will be a very difficult anime to review, since it's my fave anime of 2011. it was something that made me think "Ah, there's no anime better than this one anymore" by the end of the season. It's something you wish to have a second season, but then again I fear to have more cos usually second seasons ruined everything... especially if it's an original anime.

To be honest, at first I was put off by the anime promotional poster. It looks so retro and some mascot girl is spread across the image. Also the title made me think it was some kind of hentai anime LOL.

but I checked it out anyway since the rest of the anime during that season looks... unappealing to me.

Then the first thing that made me impressed with the anime was...

my reaction: "LOLWTF WHY ARE THEY ADVERTISING COMPANIES"

It reminds me of how Johnny Storm had sponsors plastered on his hero suit, in Fantastic Four movie adaptation. I thought it was funny. It looks like a parody of reality tv shows, and being a superhero is serious business (they even have Hero Academy). And at least the hero gets PAID for saving lives (Consequently, the hero himself must pay for property damages). Really, has no one thought of that? Somehow it makes me question how western superheroes end up getting away with it, the costumes and props and stuff. Unless you're Ironman and Batman of course. And you don't have that one particular damsel in distress to save and get married and have a love triangle with a villain/rival, or have a second spineless damsel who becomes the hero's weakness. HEY IT'S JAPAN! Plot and characterization is a whole another level!

Speaking of characters... Tiger and Bunny may look like another shounen. Main character is the typical hotblooded and naive type... but instead of a young boy they took a man in his mid 30s, and he's also a SINGLE FATHER. That was another surprise, and it was intriguing. It's funny that the writers actually wanted the demographics to be for older otakus, those who retired from anime and sentai fans... the show ends up attracting many fangirls and even housewives. And every hot-blooded guy needs a cool and level headed partner to keep him on track. Instead of a girl, the heroine is a... um... obviously male version of Farrah Fawcett look-alike. Why I call him a "heroine" because he's kinda gay, does his hair and all -oh just check out his description. Plus his nickname is "Bunny" (yay more sexualization). At first I didn't like Kotetsu much because he's like an overgrown child, but later he showed his kakkoi side and worked hard for his partner's approval. The reason is that the writers want a character that represents working class people who's undergoing mid-life crisis... especially when they had to deal with a younger carreerman (Barnaby represents this). Barnaby on the other hand, at first I was disturbed by his behaviour that seemed too familiar, but then in the second cour I my feelings for him was neutral. At the end it is revealed that he shares the same birthday as I do so I was like "OH NO WONDER I DISLIKED HIM"/"OH NO WONDER HE'S LIKE THAT"

hightlight of the show

Did I mention gay? Oh yes, there's one character who's really on par with Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark, but he's gay and goes by the name of Nathan Seymour. He's not only a superhero, but he has his own company. Too bad he wasn't given the chance to show his flashback or whatever, but heck... he likes pink and calls himself a woman, yet he spits fire and has a muscular body. Therefore he's awesome! (in spite of his butt groping tendencies XD)

Though every episode is fun, giving us THE FEELS and making us crave for more... there's a darker side to it. These superheroes are super enhanced humans called NEXT which is a kind of disease(?) that came to be many years prior to the show. NEXT was discriminated at first, due to their freaky nature, they have unexplainable supernatural powers which emerges/develops anytime in your life... until there's the show called Hero TV, where the NEXT can put their superpowers to good use; becoming HEROES! This is an effective media idea to change the minds of the public towards NEXT. NEXT are after all, still humans, but with just something extra. Even the younger characters had to deal with their own dillema, not only as a NEXT but as a person as well (note that, one of the reasons you need to pick up this show is because of one loveable weeabo character)

 

DEGOZARU!

But then here's the catch; Some villains have superpowers too. So what's the deal? Why are there still NEXTs not using their powers for good? Why isn't every NEXT recruited into Hero Academy to become heroes? Perhaps there's a conspiracy behind this reality TV show? :3

The only thing I'm disappointed with the show is that they didn't go in depth about the scientific theories of NEXTs' existence, the history and the logic behind the development or the natural selection. I really hope this can be explained in their second movie (this is me being a sciencefag).

As I said earlier, about the art... at first it looked too retro for my tastes. But then I grew to like it. Character designer made a great deal of research on what the characters should wear, depending on their personalities. And it's rare to see characters who look goddamn different from each other cos you have far too many anime/mangas that only has one or two face templates. You have the guy with rather droopy eyes, there's one with a bit of wrinkles, one with rather crooked nose, etc. Heck, most of the fangirls are probably surprised that they're into men with faical hair (but I reckon we love Kotetsu cos he is a moe oyaji). However I'm a little disappointed that Masakazu Katsura doesn't vary much of the girls' faces. And finally the city is NOT JAPANbut it looks more like an advanced version of Manhattan. It's a apparently multiracial city since in the cast you have a French woman, Latino guy, a couple of Russians, Asians, Blacks and the rest are Caucasians.

I mean dude, this has more aesthetic values man. Skills of this artist is worth being worshipped than those who draw those same flat-faced bug eyed lolis! 

Animation was nice especially during the fight scenes, and the motorcycles scenes. The rest of the time was pretty so-so but that's not the point here. Just sayin' that even the producers didn't expect to gain that many fans (Ozaki didn't give a f*ck about those... particular group of fangirls)

Also i love how... typically superhero-ish the OST is. It sort of reminds you of the superhero cartoon shows you see on TV. And I somehow got addicted to it. Plus there's some jazz and a random opera song (Barnaby's theme lolz).

So yeah the first movie is out, too bad I'm not in Japan to see it. Second movie will be out next year.

Ok i wanna conclude this. I could talk all day about Tiger & Bunny cos I love it so much that I watched it twice. And oh these are my collection. 

sadly/luckily i'm not otaku enough!

Anyway, I just remembered someone asking me why I like this show, although I said that I'm not a superhero fan. The reason is simple; the BROMANCE.

It's also the reason why I enjoyed The Avengers. So it has nothing to do with muscular guys running around in a spangly suit.

Review: No. 6 (anime)

[WARNING: May contain Spoilers]

Important reminder; my blog contains an incredibly useless reviews cos it sounds more like an opinion. I don't rate the story, character, art, etc aspects as it may seem biased.

that awkward moment when fangirls go "omgwtfbbq they look like Yuu Kanda and Allen walker kyaa kyaa!" when i think they totally look different from that pair...

I’m intrigued due to the genre – sci-fi, but is not related to space battles or robots. And to my surprise there’s a great deal of politics and hierarchy system in this story. And goddamn conspiracy theories.

And let’s not forget about the target audience.

No.6 is an adapatation of a 9-volume mini novel, about a utopian city called No.6 (apparently in the future, humans evolved into people who no longer have the ability to think of epic names. We can see the transition in this age where numbers are used for each growth of iPhone series). And utopian cities often has it’s dark secrets, so the story is obviously about that. But it centres around a genius boy and an eccentric slum-boy, together they find out the secrets of the government.

So it started when Shion, the boy living in a privileged area with his mom due to his intelligence, provided shelter to a runaway boy called Nezumi. All he did was to innocently help the poor guy, but then the officials found out that he cooperated with a criminal, he and his mom were immediately shoo-ed out of the elite area. In spite of that, they lived a pretty okay life, and Shion is pretty much fine without the intellectual environment. Four years later, bees started to pop out of each person’s neck and they die afterwards. Shion was arrested on suspicion of insubordination to the city, but before he could go to court, Nezumi came back to save him.

And then, the bromance starts.

So they managed to get out of no.6, and Shion can see the outside world where the life was rather horrible. Well, didn’t look so terrible, but I guess they had more freedom to do anything. Okay, maybe except for the citizen erasing scene where the corpses are later dumped into a science facility? Shion and Nezumi lived together for a while, and along the way Shion had a scar which looked like a snake wrapping around his body.

Uh… how did the story go again? Right… Nezumi wants to rebels against the no.6 government, but Shion is naively trusting the higher ups while at the same time fascinated by his friend’s fabulousness. Long story short, No.6 is DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

highlight of the anime

Then the story diverts to supernatural shit, I think there’s a mother nature goddess thing, and I’m starting to think that the story is losing its grip. Owait, there has been superatural stuff since the beginning anyway. You have one guy who can control rats and also another guy/girl(?) who are good with dogs. Also there’s this girl who proposed to the guy she likes by requesting for his sperm. Why I mention this is that it's not a realistic or natural thing to do, I guess her personality is rather supernatural too.

So the story ends rather boringly imho. There's pretty much less impact in the bromance (compared to the upcoming anime I will soon review) moreover when the relationship felt so one-sided. Not that I have a problem with it but it's rather forgettable.

But then I haven’t read the (translated novel), so I don’t really know how good it really is. I heard it's so depressing that it makes a pretty good story.

Nerd talk

Hi.

It's been over a week since my last update.

Shit happened. So I was not realy in the mood to update blogs although I have my drafts ready.

I actually forgot the topic that I intended to write in this blogpost. But I'm gonna begin with something anyway. I just resumed my lower intermediate Japanese class a month ago. I did a last minute revision on my "beginner 2" notes. The next day a couple of classmates mentioned that they didn't revise, and probably forgot what they've learnt. Typical. I must've forgotten a few things too. But then... since I watch anime and listen to Japanese music most of the time, I think I've been revising unconsciously. I haven't reached that level, but it's easy to remember vocabs and a few verbs when you often rape your ears with Japanese audio.
My only problem is remembering the particles, and probably sentence structure. Ask me to speak spontaneously then i'd be like...

Oyeah so here's the supposedly main content. I've been thinking about the 'nerd culture' or 'otaku culture', whatever you call it. When I was a lot younger I thought nerds and geeks are those gariben/bookworms who don't really have a social life. But now, tumblr tells me otherwise. Fangirls and fanboys are like the subsection of the nerd culture. And then I wonder how does this differ with the non-nerds (or what we call 'normalfags' ). But then I define 'normalfag' as someone who doesn't have any particular hobby and follow the norms and mainstream stuff. Of course there are nerds who follow the norms but seems like nerds have something that they can occupy with. And I'm also talking about non-anime geeks like those who likes cars or sports or... oh, hmm does being a shop-a-holic considered a nerd too? Do Beliebers, Little Monsters, Directionals include in the nerd culture too? I know Doctor Who and Star Trek fans are considered "nerds". But how do they differ?

It's like they're so obsessed with their fandoms that they notice that there's nothing wrong with their love life (not that it's a problem to me). Being someone who is interested in various things, I tend not to understand the life of those who are not attached to anything 'fun'. Occassionally I hang out with my non-nerd fans, and we can talk about general things... but somehow it's not as exciting as conversing like below...

• "hey do you watch ?"
• "yeah the animation is pretty good but I personally hate the ending"
• "IKR? Remember the time when did "
• "Yeah seems like there's a loophole there. Because mentioned that . But why is the ending like that?"
• And then you two start being all philosophical and whatnot. And you're probably discuss about the songs and moe/bishin characters too.

Okay so that's one of the most sophisticated example of a conversation. Because most of the time I hear derpy shallow fangirling kind of talk (hey I'm guilty of this too)... or just a bunch of otaku-joke that no normalfag can understand (THIS CONSPIRACY THEORY EVENT ACTUALLY HAPPENED BUT THEN SOMEONE SENT A D-MAIL TO THE PAST SO OUR CURRENT WORLD LINE DOESN'T SEE IT HAPPEN!!!!). Bottomline, it's fun to be occupied with silly things; you'll forget your despair and you get ideas for fanfic. you learn life lessons. You may walk alone in a shopping mall, feeling sad or neutral, suddenly you see something that reminds you of your fandom, suddenly you're grinning like an idiot. Hey it makes your day.

Yeah being a nerd is fun :3 and we do have a LIFE!


Next... FALL ANIME.

So I'm gonna watch Magi, Ixion Saga, Kamisama Hajimemashita, Code Geass: Boukoku no Akito and Code Breaker. So far I've already seen Zetsuen no Tempest and Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun and the most anticipated...

K!!

I'm most impressed with this anime, since the first episode gave me a lot of eye-candy. It's so intriguing and so mysterious, and you wanna know more. Though it may remind you of Durarara!!, No.6, Persona 3 (game) and probably Code Geass and Guilty Crown. The characters look so perfect, it's impossible to choose who you want to fall in love with (who cares. TAKE ALL BISHOUNENS!!!) And the cast is wuahahaha c'mon~ you have Tomokazu Sugita, Tsuda Kenjirou, Ono Daisuke, Takahiro Sakurai, Mamoru Miyano, Fukuyama Jun, Kaji Yuki, Namikawa Daisuke and even Sawashiro Miyuki! I have high hopes for K but I hope it didn't turn out to be like Sacred Seven, it looked amazing at first but then it was mehhh. However, K has beautiful OST to make up for it even if it reaches a downfall. The OST is composed by Mikio Endo... apparently he's a newbie composer and K is his first work. I look forward to this. I miss looking forward and get all excited towards an anime, ever since Tiger & Bunny is over nothing else seem to complete me.

Yeah this shall be the only first impression post in this blog haha.

Review: Hikounin Sentai Akibaranger

So I'm taking a break from blabbing about anime. It's time for Japanese Superhero (parody)!

I used to love Power Rangers. I don’t remember how I graduated from being in that fandom. I was just a kid. I think I moved on to another fad back then.

Producer: Toei

I didn’t watch other sentai series, so I missed out a lot. But I watched Akibaranger mainly cos it’s a parody of tokusatsu and otaku in one show. Akibaranger mostly makes fun of the stereotypes and common things that occur in tokusatsu, decorated with jokes about the various anime subfandoms. You know how parodies are often like 5 minute youtube video and 2 hours of twisted epic movies combined in one film? Well, now you get to see it in 12 episodes, something that YOU can relate with.

Akibaranger’s main theme is about DELUSION, which I think is totally suitable for otakus in general. Heck, don’t we all dream of getting sudden superpowers or get teleported into another fantasy world? I know I did ww. So this brilliant excuse of an otaku culture parody takes advantage of that (and seriously they do look pitiful)

The rangers have anime-ish design helmet too!

Akibared (Nobuo Akagi) – is your typical otaku who is often in dilemma about which merchandise to buy, and how to get into a 3D girl’s pants. Seriously reminds me of a few people I know lol. He’s a pretty lame guy but he takes the role of the hotblooded protagonist like he’s meant to have it.

LOL

Akibayellow (Yumeria Moegi) – is like the embodiment of self-absorbed cosplayers, shamelessly dressing up flamboyantly everywhere she goes and has to stay in character. Apparently she’s also a doujinshika and a fujoshi (episode 3 wins)

AkibaBlue (Mitsuki Aoyagi) – the only school girl, and is often disgusted by how her senior rangers are acting like overgrown children. She’s in the team just for the martial arts, and doesn't really admit that she's in the lower group of otaku heriarchy.

Malshina - Purple haired not-so-main villain of the show, but she had more screentime than her boss. She's somewhat related to Hakese - the one responsible in giving the three rangers a chance to become unofficial superheroes.

I wish there were more members cos it doesn't seem enough to represent the otaku community. They could've included a VN-otaku, a mecha fan, a pure old fag (so that maybe we can see some oldfags vs newfags stuff), and probably some NND addicts.

So anyways, when they transform they used a figurine called Aoi-tan which is a character from the show in the show. It's probably their current moe-tard anime which is on air. When they transform, they can do it at just about anywhere but they'll soon be transported to a totally different place far from the city, in the middle of nowhere. If you wanna know why then go check it out lol. And speaking of moeshits... yeah, the show questioned it's relevance somewhere. It was totally getting in the way for Aoi-tan's original author who wants to make the show as he wanted to be.

doesn't seem like the OP has serious message

While their base is in Akihabara, in a sentai cafe owned by the boss who monitors the akibarangers, they pursue (or were pursued by?) monsters that represent the other unique districts in Tokyo. These monsters wish to banish otaku culture from Akihabara and turn the city into their own liking (like host clubs, sports arena, etc). Really, they make otakuism look like they don’t deserve to exist in this world and the akibarangers are defending their animu like scared little newfags. FINALLY, it isn't something that affects the whole world when the event only happens in one particular place in Japan *rolls eyes*

A few previous red rangers makes a cameo whenever they're in a pinch. If I'm not mistaken episode 11 makes fun of how producers or writers could/would/may abuse their power in making nonsensical plot changes.

To my surprise, for a just-for-laughs series, they actually did have pretty neat plot twists (which lead me to ship Nobuo x Malshina) towards the end. It’s funny and shit, but it’s not suitable for kids (note that there’s ecchi and a few yaoi jokes) since it’s probably for older audiences who are used to the typical ‘flags’ in anime and tokusatsu.

Overall, it's pretty good. I recommend this even to non-sentai fans :3

Too bad she's supposed to be a 2D character... but oh well Nobuo almost had a dream-come-true moment.