D.C. ~Da Capo~

D.C. ~Da Capo~

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Back in its time, Da Capo was one of those animes that probably instigated the new wave, a sudden outburst of the popularity of bishoujo games being converted into anime. The game was made by a company named [Circus->], and I can only imagine how big the Da Capo franchise is to them. With already 7 games (maybe more) composed of rehashes, fandisks, after stories and console versions, Da Capo is huge on the games front. Not to mention all those singles, drama cds, and manga serializations. Da Capo is as big as any [Dengeki G’s->] series such as [Futakoi->].

The anime is equally big. This is the very first bishoujo game based anime series that ever had a full season run of 26 episodes. And with 26 more on the way on its second season this summer 2005, it will very well be the biggest bishoujo game based anime franchise in history. Well that’s saying much, but how does it fair really?

Da Capo is not too bad, but it had its share of little faults here and there. For the first 7 episodes, the main episode is actually short in length, in favor of having a music video of a girl’s seiyuu after each episode. Those music videos were average, some horrible, but nonetheless a part of the Da Capo fandom. I have no complaints here, some seiyuu were [popular->horie-yui] and cute anyway. Many other episodes have a side story part focusing on a character or number of characters, which eats up the main episode’s time as well. While some of those side stories are interesting, others are just annoying. The recurrent figure in these side stories is a certain mysterious cat guy, but it never adds any coherence to the side stories nor does it add up to the main Da Capo story at all. Furthermore, there are two recap episodes in this anime. So much for 26 episodes you think?

Well, the latter half is where this series shines. The tone slowly changes from filler-comedy to pure classic drama involving the magic of the sakura tree. The characters in Da Capo actually live in a town where a mysterious power exists within the cherry blossoms. Because of this, our characters actually have some sort of magical affinity as a result. For example, one of the girls can actually read people’s minds, while another girl is actually a cat transformed in human form. These unique but weird traits haunt them somehow throughout this series, and is where the dramatic parts explode into. I tell you, the drama here is powerful, and that is definitely a treat.

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And my favorite girl? Mako! She rocks!

Of course, getting the good stuff like this requires you to go through 15 or so episodes of comedic and mindless filler, but the result will not leave you disappointed. Try out Da Capo. You may be disappointed with some parts, but in general I hope you will like it eventually. Besides, the second season is up for you to anticipate as well.

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This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature

Comic Party Revolution

Comic Party Revolution

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After [To Heart->], bishoujo game company [Leaf/Aquaplus->leaf-aquaplus] made [Comic Party->]. It was a moderate success, and for good reason. It is about a generally positive outlook on the realities of Japanese otaku culture, through a bishoujo game, and the main focus of course is doujinshi.

As some of you know, doujinshi is basically “fan comics” made by fans for fans. They are usually of the ero nature, and is visibly seen whenever there are anime and comic conventions. They also usually parody or purposely base their material on existing popular anime, manga, or game series. The Comic Party game and anime series highlights a group of individuals who are into these kinds of stuff, as well as give a viewpoint on how outsiders think about them.

The first Comic Party anime was a simple story about this guy named Kazuki and his entry into the world of doujinshi. Part of it is because he likes drawing, the other part is because of his friend Taishi’s plans for world domination. The bishoujos of the game are featured somehow, but the anime is mostly Kazuki’s viewpoint and story. Dunno if this had gone well with Comic Party fans, although I liked it quite a bit.

Now, can you believe that Comic Party Revolution was originally a 2-episode OVA? For some reason (maybe sales went well, or maybe fans crave for more), Comic Party Revolution had gone extended to 3 episodes… and then 4… and then now an entire 13-episode TV series run! Isn’t that amazing? Whether fan approval or sales made Aquaplus deliver a half-season worth of Comic Party, it’s all good for me! Why?

First, the animation is great! All the girls look beautiful and are consistently animated. Very, very unlike the horrible variety of [To Heart ~Forget my Memories~->to-heart-remember-my-memories]. Also, because of its doujinshi nature, there are bound to be parodies and spoofs right? Comic Party Revolution has LOTS of them! Everything from basic doujinshi and cosplaying to even entire episodes devoted to parodying numerous anime, manga, games, and other Japanese culture stuff! Wanna see a [Cardcaptor Sakura->cardmaster-peach] parody? Wanna see To Heart 2’s [Konomi Yuzuhara->konomi-cameo] before the anime comes? How about an entire episode dedicated to baseball and [tennis->princess-of-tennis] TV parodies? Want a direct reference to Gundam [SEED->seed-mode] again? Or maybe delve into [action->metal-gear-aya] and horror? Everything gets [mixed up->cardmaster-peach-vs-princess-of-tennis]! What’s more, each character gets her own time to shine! There are entire sequences or episodes dedicated to an specific character, so fans of each girl would definitely be delighted. Comic Party Revolution may not be too story based as opposed to the first series, but it’s definitely a “very entertaining show”. That’s what matters most.

This anime has one of the most stylish opening sequences I have seen from this genre. Also, the OP/ED songs are so great I have been anticipating them since over two years ago! (it only did get released during the 2005 TV series). The music may be forgettable but it complements each scene just right.

If you crave for a funnier, more colorful and slightly more positive version of [Genshiken->], Comic Party Revolution is the anime for you. Don’t forget to get the original Comic Party anime too, and try to play the game if you can. I can say that this is my personal favorite out of all the current series ending this season. Everything in this series has gone just right, I’m really, really satisfied with what Aquaplus has done this time (a better To Heart and more Comic Party please!!!). Oh, did I see a “To Be Continued?” sign at the end? I HOPE SO! I hope you watch and enjoy it, too.

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This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature

Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~

Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~

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Great characters and even greater supporting characters grace this beautifully animated, well paced, and funny series involving a group of people in the Narutaki apartments.

Nope, don’t mistake it for another of those apartment harem shows where the guy gets to hit on all his neighbor girls. Don’t mistake it either for that similarly named average anime of 2003 called Maburaho. Mahoraba is, simply put, nice. You got a slice-of-life comedy starring our usual dorky male lead (but with a bit of backbone at least) named Shiratori. He’s moving to an apartment near the city because he’s taking his art class there. And so he goes to Narutaki-sou, a seemingly classic provincial inn, very different from the rest of the concrete metro jungle. The inn itself is like a self-contained park, with lush greens and nice atmosphere.

While it seems like heaven to live in, the people who live there make Shiratori’s everydays a living hell. A megane drunkard, a camera touting freak, an incompetent mother and hardworking daughter, and an old puppeteer round up the rowdy comedic crew. They give Shiratori trouble in many ways, including the seemingly routine beer and slumber party every night. The only saving grace is Narutaki’s apartment manager, Kozue, the main girl in this series. She’s kind, sweet, and extremely cute. Kozue-chan has some addiction to umeboshi (pickled plum) as well. Shiratori and Kozue serve as the main pair of the series. Unfortunately, Shiratori still has trouble, because Kozue-chan has some sort of multiple personality sickness! Everytime she gets surprised, he transforms into either one of 4 alternate personalities. A rowdy punk gal, a cute kid, a cosplay addict, and a quiet magician. After some time though, she transforms back to normal kind Kozue-chan. Aside from the already excellent main cast, the supporting cast shines. They are as interesting as the main ones, and maybe even more, if only they had adequate screentime. One particular character, a voodoo freak girl, gives me a laugh every time, especially when she does the “curse me more” bits.

The animation is perfect for its theme, and the music is great too. The pace is really slice-of-life, with the necessary comedic parts and some occassional drama. The story is rather coherent, although some may want more when it comes to the ending (but don’t we all). The anime producers did some of its creative freedom especially near the end, because its original manga series is ongoing, but it never feels forced. All in all Mahoraba is a very recommended watch if you want some kind of warm, fuzzy, and funny heartful days feeling in your anime.

Negima sakuga tracker: DVD comparison

I found comparisons of the original broadcast Negima episodes with the supposedly remastered DVD version.

It is said that the animation company has re-edited some entire episodes of the TV series in the transition to DVD, because as we all know, Negima’s animation quality is like a stock market. Featured here are some links that show side-by-side screencaps of the first few episodes.

http://anime.thenexxus.org/blog/archives/2005/07/negima_dvd_impr.html
http://anime.thenexxus.org/blog/archives/2005/07/negima_dvd_2_im.html
http://www.prototype-blue.com/log2005_06.html
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/kinu/tategamiya/NegiDVD.htm

Seeing these comparisons, I could say that they have really changed a LOT of scenes, and this is entirely great news for me! The girls look a lot more beautiful in these DVD episodes as compared to the original broadcast versions.

I actually watched the DVD versions of episodes 1 through 4, and I can say that not only the girls look better, but the colors (especially their hair colors) are much richer now. Fans will like this, although I wouldn’t know if people would rewatch the series just because of this.

The [Asuna->negima-sakuga-tracker-asuna-version] and [Yue->negima-sakuga-tracker-yue-version] sakuga trackers are updated with some DVD versions, so check them out.

But you don’t understand them at all project: bluemist chart liner

bluemist’s “But you don’t understand them at all” Project: bluemist chart liner

Status: On Hold

Here I go again, with a new blogging project after the successful To Heart 2 project.

This time, it will be an anime music ratings chart!

What are you trying to do here?
I’m going to list down the top anime songs that currently ring in my mind (and my music player). It doesn’t necessarily need to be the latest anime music (I pick up classics from time to time), and doesn’t necessarily need to be a favorite of mine (I may torture bad songs from time to time). I’m gonna put some descriptions about the song, and my witty reactions about it and stuff. However, I will NOT tell where to get the songs (well if you wandered into the anime world you probably have enough know-how to find them anyway).

Why would you do this?
I guess I needed a venue to shout out on how good or bad a song is, and this may serve its purpose pretty well.

How about jpop and stuff?
Generally, this will apply to only anime and related music, but it wouldn’t hurt to include some right? Unfortunately, I don’t seem to dig them lately, for various reasons:
– Many of them sound alike anyway. Face it, a Nami Tamaki song just sounds like any other Nami Tamaki song, talk about variety.
– The jpop industry seems stagnant nowadays. Proof is that even Negima music singles shoot straight up the charts everytime.

Mechanics?
Well this is still in the planning stages so I don’t know of an approach yet. Stay tuned for updates, I guess.

Counter-Strike NEO -White Memories-

Counter-Strike NEO -White Memories-

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In what seems to be a most unlikely hybrid in gaming, this project by Namco is a free flash visual novel with parts of first-person-shooter gameplay!

The story seems to pit you into the helm of a counter-terrorist soldier, along with a team trying to infiltrate this certain evil facility, as you battle against the remaining NEO soldiers. But you see the facility full of dead people. Along the way, you find this bloody mysterious girl who doesn’t seem to remember anything. And so you continually protect her from harm as you go on solving some mysteries and fighting some more NEO soldiers.

Basically, this is a one-path visual novel with annoying counter-strike fps gaming parts. Really, the fps parts are relatively easy, and doesn’t seem to be important at all. You’re just firing away at baddies. The visual novel parts, as usual, are fully in Japanese text, with only a few voice overs to boot, so I could only understand a bit of the story.

I know some group is editing the flash files so that they can translate this in English, I just don’t know where it is anymore. in any case, all flash files are free and are readily downloadable in the official site.

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This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature

CLAMP Crossover Tracker

Before the Tsubasa Chronicle episodes become too many for me to handle, I better start this now.

The thing I like about CLAMP works is that somehow, each of their series can be connected to each other! Be it cameos of other characters, themes and places that are similar, and even pseudo-sequels and other worlds, they present some sort of CLAMP universe. I call them CLAMP Crossovers.

So far, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle seems to be the ultimate in all crossovers, because almost all of CLAMP’s works are being represented in the series, in one way or another. This is an attempt to track down all the crossovers of the Tsubasa Chronicle anime.

Tsubasa Chronicle is an adventure anime where our heroes travel through alternate worlds. With the worlds being alternate, there is possibility of characters doubling their roles. A character in one world may also appear in another world. It is said that though the character’s soul is the same, he/she may be be living different lives in each world. With that kind of setup in Tsubasa, it seems that the possibility of all CLAMP series being all connected is rapidly coming true.

This is gonna be an ongoing project, and I admit that I only know a few of the series by CLAMP. Just because Cardcaptor Sakura is my eternal favorite anime, I became interested to see the rest, but not all of course. Anyway, please do post a comment and inform me if you find some other crossovers that I haven’t mentioned or known.

The crossovers represent the Tsubasa Chronicle anime only.

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Clow Country (episode 1)
The first world in Tsubasa.

Characters:
Shaoran (Cardcaptor Sakura)
Sakura (Cardcaptor Sakura)
Fujitaka (Cardcaptor Sakura) – In Tsubasa Chronicle, he is Shaoran’s father. In CCS, he is Sakura’s father.
Touya (Cardcaptor Sakura)
Yukito (Cardcaptor Sakura)
Clow Reed (Cardcaptor Sakura) – In Tsubasa Chronicle, he is Sakura’s father.

Themes:
– The name Clow is from Clow Reed of Cardcaptor Sakura.

Ancient Japan (episode 1)
The world in Tsubasa where Tomoyo and Kurogane came from.

Characters:
Tomoyo (Card Captor Sakura)

Themes:

Celes (episode 1)
The world in Tsubasa where Chii and Fai came from.

Characters:
Chii (Chobits)

Themes:

Modern Japan (episode 1-2)
The world in Tsubasa where the dimensional witch Yuuko is located.

Characters:
Yuuko (XXXHolic)
Kimihiro (XXXHolic)
Mokona (Magic Knight Rayearth)

Themes:
– If it’s the same Yuuko in XXXHolic, there is possibility that this is the XXXHolic world.

Hanshin (episode 2-6)
The first world where the group travelled.

Characters:
Sorata (X)
Arashi (X)
Miyuki-chan (Miyuki-chan in Wonderland) – In the TRC manga, Miyuki-chan seems to always appear in every world. I only saw her here so far though.
Shougo (X Movie)
Masayoshi (CLAMP School Detectives)
Touya (Cardcaptor Sakura)
Yukito (Cardcaptor Sakura)
Primera (Magic Knight Rayearth)

Themes:
– Hanshin seems reminiscent of the world of [Chobits->tsubasachobits-inn], and in effect Angelic Layer, but no direct crossover has been established.
– Hanshin’s Kudan system gave Shaoran a fire element, represented by Rayearth from Magic Knight Rayearth. I am not sure if Shougo and Primera’s Kudan is indeed from MKR as well.

Koryo (episode 7-11)
The second world where the group travelled.

Characters:
Chun Hyang (The Legend of Chun Hyang)
Sorata (X)
Arashi (X)
Nokoru (CLAMP School Detectives)
Suoh (CLAMP School Detectives)
Akira (CLAMP School Detectives)

Themes:
– The story in this world seems similar to The Legend of Chun Hyang.

Unknown Lake Country (episode 12)
The third world where they travelled. Nothing much was seen here.

Characters:

Themes:

July Anime Season (Summer 2005)

This month, many of the series I’m watching will end. That gives me the right to add more new anime series to watch this July right? Wrong.

I’m lessening my load on watching anime, due to this thing called board exams, my road to go professional on my college diploma thingie. Hopefully, the fun should never stop in this blog (well at least for the summer season), because I’m gonna watch some anime this summer season.

Though I’m trying to lessen my watching load, the list looks so great, I’m having a hard time choosing what to watch.

It’s summer over there in Japan but actually it’s rainy season over here, so to avoid confusion (just my own confusion) I’ll call this the July Anime Season. Here are some of the series that interest me so far:

Da Capo Second Season – One of my favorite bishoujo game series has yet another anime! This time, I think it will be based on a manga serialization. A new character will be introduced, along with Nemu, Sakura and Kotori. I’m wanting another 26-episoder, but I think this will run for only 13.

Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid – Well, I watched both FMP series but I’m still thinking if I’ll follow it immediately. For one, this should be another great FMP because Kyoto Animation is gonna do it, so expect eye candy. On the other hand, this looks like your regular mecha action rather than the extreme Fumoffu comedy which I liked very much.

GUN x SWORD – I always skip action. I prefer to watch them in batches and marathons.

Ichigo Mashimaro – Been hearing good things about this from blogs and forums, so I’ll give this one a try. The girls are cute, in a unique way.

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Just watched a prologue video. Looks like a slice-of-life comedy about the girls’ normal and weird personalities, kinda like Azumanga Daioh. This is exciting. Plus, it has a stellar seiyuu cast for the 5 girls. I’m hyped now! Better read the manga!

Kamichu! ~Kamisama wa Chuugakusei~ – Looks nice.

Kidou Shinsengumi Moeyo Ken – This looks like harem and samurais.

Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo – Okay, so your wife is a magical girl. Big deal. Many anime guys have magical girls as wives or lovers. I wonder what will make me want to watch this.

Petopeto-san – Wow! The artwork looks extremely moe~! Some kind of welcome surprise this is, coz I’ve never heard of it.

SHUFFLE! – Oh, it’s this bishoujo game based series I was talking about a [while back->shuffle]. See my reactions over there.

Suzuka – Never heard of this before but some are saying that Suzuka is an excellent manga series.

DELIBERATION

Absolute Watch
Da Capo Second Season

Watch
Petopeto-san
Ichigo Mashimaro
SHUFFLE!

Watch Later
Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid
GUN x SWORD
Suzuka

Watch Maybe
Kamichu! ~Kamisama wa Chuugakusei~
Kidou Shinsengumi Moeyo Ken
Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo

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