Games
Age Maniax
Akane Maniax
Kaseki no Uta
Kimi ga Ita Kisetsu
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien
Muvluv
Muvluv Alternative (upcoming)
Anime
[Akane Maniax->]
[Kimi ga Nozomu Eien->]
Generic Disclaimer: Of course I wouldn’t know how the bishoujo games industry truly works, so some info below may be wrong or misinterpreted. This feature is from an outsider’s point of view, namely, my point of view.
’tis the season to be loli, falala lala, lala la-la…
(that was lame)
This is the ‘loli’ group of anime that I’m gonna watch this season.
This already constitutes 4 animes. There are [more->summer-of-the-others] to follow. I told myself I shouldn’t be over this limit. I’m going on overload.
But can I ever resist the loli-licious-ness? Not to mention the moe-licious-ness? Or the kawaii-licious-ness? Or the…
Ichigo Mashimaro
.jpg "cigarette loli-pop")
.jpg "loli-licious")
.jpg "loli-angst")
Five girls, one ambition: make us laugh at their silliness. This is post-Azumanga Daioh comedy, but much loli-er. Frankly, it was very entertaining! The naughty fanservice of the manga toned down, background music at a minimum to shift focus to the hyper-funny dialogue, and the girls drawn ever so cute! My anime of the season!
Kamichu!
.jpg "loli-blush")
.jpg "adore-loli")
.jpg "kamisama-loli")
She has just become… a god! And so this young kid experience the perils of discovering and controlling her power, all the while being a student and falling in love with this weird guy. Many say it is as inspired as Ghibli works, and it shows a bit. The thing literally “moves”, it is fluidly animated, and very imaginative.
Paniponi Dash!
.jpg "loli-sensei")
.jpg "loli-students")
.jpg "loli-loli-mode")
Weird teacher + weird students + outer-worldly weird factors = over-the-top craziness anime. Yes, each girl has their own share of weirdness. The animation shifts quickly between SD, loli, and kawaii styles, and the OP sounds like it came from the 70’s (from the animators who gave us the classic nekomimi-mode, btw)!
Petopeto-san
.jpg "loli-yoroshiku")
.jpg "sticky-loli")
.jpg "loli-cute")
Transfer student is an ero-ero petopeto-san. Whatever that means, she is apparently very “sticky”. If your body sticks hard enough to her body you will literally stick, and only by sleeping will you be set free. Look at that first victim. Lucky guy.
I’m in a pinch like never before.
After the previous season ended, 4 of the animes I was watching were finished. I was thinking along the lines of picking up 4 new ones to watch for this season. But seeing that the number of interesting animes exceeds that number, I guess I’m gonna put some of the titles in the backburner again (meaning “maybe” watch when I’m not busy later on). Hence, my last impressions.
This is a post about the animes where I watched the first episode, and decided not to continue with it for now (or for ever).
Amaenaideyo!!
Oof, I accidentally deleted the raw episode. This screencap came from a preview vid which I still had. Since I won’t want to download this abomination once again, it’s bye bye for this anime. I simply didn’t like it.
Kidou Shinsengumi Moeyo Ken
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
There is nothing wrong with this series. It’s just that I’m really trying to free up myself in getting too many anime and having brain damage later on. This having Rumiko Takahashi character designs would be a treat for those fans who miss Inuyasha. I think the story would be quite good too.
Okusama wa Joushikousei
.jpg "high school student")
.jpg "hot...")
.jpg "but already married")
Okay, wife #1 is a high school student. Is it even legal? In any case, if someone else would know that this girl is married with her own teacher at school, they’ll be in big trouble. This girl wants “more” than the no-xxx relationship that her husband is treating her currently. This girl is hawt for some action. Unfortunately, this goes into the backburner simply because I’ve had enough of fanservice, and students hitting on teachers. Nothing new here.
Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo
.jpg "magical girl")
.jpg "already married...")
.jpg "but hitting on another guy")
Wife #2 is a magical girl who loves her town. Her husband is nowhere in sight though. She does silly things like talking to a vacuum cleaner. Then that guy with glasses (not her husband) came to live with them. So I guess we will see him every episode tripping and stumbling over the magical girl. Sorry, she’s taken, and moreover, no kiss allowed. While the music reminded me a bit of that old TV show Bewitched at first, their “wild” magical transformation sequence instantly turned me off, and the fanservice seems oh too pointless. Ok fine the wife is hot, and the other magical girl is loli, I get the point. Sorry, this is a backburner.
Game
Air
Clannad
Kanon
One (Tactics)
[Planetarian->]
Tomoyo After ~It’s a Wonderful Life~
Little Busters (upcoming)
Related
Airrade
Eternal Fighter Zero
Pocket Kanon & Air
Anime
[Air->air-tv]
[Air Movie->]
[Kanon->]
One (Tactics)
Generic Disclaimer: Of course I wouldn’t know how the bishoujo games industry truly works, so some info below may be wrong or misinterpreted. This feature is from an outsider’s point of view, namely, my point of view.
Game
Aruru to Asobo!!
Comic Party
DR^2 Night Janki
Filsnown
Kizuato
Magical Antique
Routes
Shizuku
Tasogare
Tears to Tiara
Tenerezza
Tenshi no Inai 12-gatsu
To Heart
[To Heart 2->]
Utawarerumono
White Album
Kusari
To Heart 2: XRATED
To Heart 2 ~Another Days~
Related
Party’s Breaker
Queen of Heart
Anime
[Comic Party->]
[Comic Party Revolution->]
[To Heart->]
[To Heart ~Remember My Memories~->]
[To Heart 2->toheart2-review]
Utawarerumono
White Album
Tears to Tiara (upcoming)
Generic Disclaimer: Of course I wouldn’t know how the bishoujo games industry truly works, so some info below may be wrong or misinterpreted. This feature is from an outsider’s point of view, namely, my point of view.
.jpg "Nemu as usual")
.jpg "Nemu vs. Sakura as usual")
.jpg "janken strip!")
.jpg "Mako-chan!")
.jpg "Mako-chan rocks my world!")
.jpg "faint smile")
Do you miss Nemu and Sakura already?
D.C. Onsen is a separate fandisk bishoujo game, where the story seems to be about Suginami inviting Junichi and some girls for some onsen “fun”. This is really a rather short game, and no save/load are possible.
I think you could insert this sidestory around the early stages of the first season. In this game, Nemu doesn’t know about Moe yet. Moe is Mako’s elder sister. Also, the Nemu vs. Sakura fights are still comic and petty, unlike the dramatic stuff of the later episodes.
Well, what else can I say? All the stuff here are typical “onsen” stuff. You know, the baths, the eating, etc. Nemu and Sakura vying for Junichi’s attention especially at dinner time. Some rowdy stuff happen like the rock-paper-scissors strip game between Junichi and Nemu. Ooh…
What I like most (of course) is the Mako part. She gets surprised when she’s been seen window-shopping over those souvenirs. Junichi bought her one, which made her blush a bit. YAY!
This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature
.jpg "Mizuki, the anti-otaku")
.jpg "Mizuki and Kazuki.")
.jpg "Yuu, fellow doujinshi author and idealist")
.jpg "Eimi, fellow doujinshi author and realist")
.jpg "Chisa, helps run her family's printing business")
.jpg "Aya, slow and shy doujinshi author")
.jpg "Reiko, the cosplay girl")
.jpg "Minami, Comic Party's organizer")
.jpg "Ikumi, Kazuki's biggest fan.")
.jpg "Taishi, the annoying friend.")
Welcome to the world of doujinshi.
Comic Party is yet another anime based on a bishoujo game. This anime centers on a guy named Kazuki and his quest to be a doujinshi artist. Doujinshi is basically fan comics, where you do your own comics, be it original or based on a popular manga or anime series. The anime presents a basic introduction of the subject matter in hand. Doujinshi authors draw their works, go to printing services to print multiple copies, and then sell them by going to various doujinshi or anime-related conventions and events. As expected from a bishoujo title, there are lots of girls with extremely varying attitudes, traits, and hair color. But unlike most bishoujo game to anime conversions, Comic Party doesn’t focus on the girls alone. There is actually a story about the male doujinshi artist and his exploits. And this is not harem either, so those looking for romantic comedies and stuff like that won’t find it here, although a love triangle (of sorts) is actually established near the end.
The anime sports decent art and animation. It also has a soundtrack just right enough for the scenes. Technically this is a fairly average anime, although I was quite disappointed considering the animation studio ([Aquaplus->leaf-aquaplus]) also did [To Heart->], which is more visually appealing in my opinion. But the story makes it appealing nonetheless. While To Heart presented the episodic approach, focusing on a girl per episode, Comic Party more or less did the same, but included a story continuity. The girls are quite interesting, even one of them doesn’t like doujinshi and otakudom the male lead has. This adds flavor to the story and makes it more dynamic and funny.
Because of my inherent love for spoofs and spinoffs, Comic Party appeals to me in a lot of ways. It references a lot of anime, manga, and game related stuff, some of which I wouldn’t understand because of my limited knowledge of this fandom. Mostly, the anime features To Heart spoofs, including cameos from the anime, and even doujinshi based on To Heart (talk about referencing a reference). You also see cosplay here, and so many references were based on that, including Steel Angel Kurumi and Wedding Peach cosplay. I even saw a Happy Lesson poster in one of the episodes. It took me second looks just to realize some of them though. For example, there were references from Shizuku and White Album, games which were also made by Leaf. Also, some of the dialogue of Taishi (Kazuki’s annoying male friend, a staple in many bishoujo games) includes references from Gundam, among others, which I don’t know too much. In any case, the little things really surprise me and give me a chuckle everytime.
Comic Party is perfect for a bit lighthearted take on otaku stuff like doujinshi and cosplay. It is much more recommended because it has a sequel named [Comic Party Revolution->], which improves on the original Comic Party anime in many ways. Watch this first though, so that the experience of the sequel makes the series very exciting to watch as a whole.
This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature
No pics. It doesn’t deserve pics.
I don’t know what to think of this. Maybe someone hasn’t learned their lessons from ONE, that 4-episode OVA that inserted a clueless mystery story into a bishoujo game to anime conversion. Kakyuusei 2 is somewhat like ONE. It has so many mysteries that non-gamers wouldn’t understand. But unlike ONE, whose game would try to explain the events in the anime, Kakyuusei 2 is reportedly an entire original scenario that is different from the game! First off, this is not a sequel to, say, Kakyuusei 1. You don’t need to play the Kakyuusei 1 game, nor watch the Kakyuusei 1 animes (some are H). Furthermore, it doesn’t even follow the original game storyline. It just has the same characters, then adding new ones.
So, what makes this anime so controversial? As I said, this anime is confusing. One of the characters seems to be some sort of ‘mystery man’. He overlooks almost anything that happens with the girls. What’s weirder is that he can travel through time! And he has this glittering eye, that attracts ALL the girl characters in Kakyuusei 2! Who the heck is he? He’s not even the main male character, but he seems to be. The actual main character is a typical boring male lead in bishoujo animes. But enough about him. The mystery man drives all my confusion in the entire series. I’ve looked through anime forums and I see many people are confused as well. They try to deduce and make sense of everything but to no avail, they have already moved on to other anime.
I watched episode 1-4… and then stopped watching. That’s how bad it is, considering I rarely drop anime series. Even without the mystery, the bishoujo anime stuff isn’t even interesting. While the girls are cute, there’s too many of them (11) to make me even care about one. It doesn’t entertain, it isn’t interesting, and it’s very confusing. What a shame, really. I bet there were a LOT of Kakyuusei fans all over the world, this being part of the most important games of the bishoujo industry. Elf, before making the hugely popular Kakyuusei game series, did Dokyusei. It was not only huge, Dokyusei was the pioneer of the ren’ai game genre. That’s how big it is (positively)… as big (negatively) as my disappointment over Kakyuusei 2.
This is history in the making. Possibly the worst bishoujo game to anime conversion I have ever seen. Sorry to say.
This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature
Slowly but surely, this company is getting my attention.
Last year, it caught my attention by releasing an English game called Hourglass of Summer, which we would know to be [Natsuiro no Sunadokei->]. While not as big-name as other visual novels of its kind, it had its share of popularity as a game and anime OVA. But more importantly, releasing this game (which is actually an interactive DVD played on DVD players) is a rather unprecedented move. Why? Almost ALL of the bishoujo games released in English are of the hentai/ero variety. This is probably one of the rare few non-hentai bishoujo game being released in English. And a moderately popular one at that. It was amazing, although I didn’t know of the company’s fate after that. Did they sell well with Hourglass, among with their other Anime Play DVD games? Seeing their lineup, it’s actually rather stellar.
Now, the company is back with a vengeance, and is seemingly doing rather good but risky business again. They are now launching big-name titles in their Anime Play PC division (this time games that can be played on computers). The highlight is Ai Yori Aoshi. The anime community definitely knows of the anime series, and so they would probably take notice of this. But the game that has caught me stunned was their upcoming release of Ever17! As they described, yes, Ever17 could be seen as on-par with the big ones. Demo downloads of both of these games are already available, by the way.
More importantly though is that this company is initiating the new wave of visual novels. Their big point is the non-hentai part. They seem to be on a mission to prove that visual novels are not just about the H, and that it can be seen as a viable form of mainstream entertainment, in the same way that anime is emerging right now on the western world.
Another big scoop here: (quoted from their site)
From July to September, HIRAMEKI International will be setting up a booth at conventions primarily along the west coast to demonstrate English versions of Japanese Visual Novel Games. We will be showing to the public for the first time, of course DVD format games, but expanding our line of products with games that operate on a Windows PC platform. Currently in Japan, “Kimi ga nozomu eien” and “Tukihime” have been made into many anime episodes and we’re sure that anime fans attuned to what is happening are dying to play the game that kicked off the craze these anime have created. Please be on the look out for news from HIRAMEKI, which was created with the objective of meeting the needs of these fans. We are working hard to see that we have some big titles on the horizon for you. If you would like to test a game, drag yourself out to one of the venues listed below and tell the HIRAMEKI staff exactly what is on your mind.
While I won’t believe that they could be licensing [Kiminozo->kimi-ga-nozomu-eien] and [Tsukihime->shingetsutan-tsukihime] anytime soon, this proves that they seem to have an eye out on anime fans, specifically, those who download fansubs. I think this can be a double-edged sword on them, mainly because it is both a risk and opportunity. Will international anime fans bite, and finally play the kind of popular visual novels the Japanese fans play? Are they heading for success, or failure? Time will tell. In any case, Hirameki International definitely has something good up their sleeve. I dig it.
This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature
After the layout change, I upgraded so many stuff into my blog to make it more “future proof”, but this move will require me to have a blog cleanup! Because of this, you may see the Recent Updated Posts section to be a bit volatile. Why?
I will edit almost ALL of my posts!
My goodness, am I crazy enough to do this? In any case, I really hope I won’t do this again. This won’t affect you guys too much, but if you’re keen enough, you will find little bits of changes happening to the site. I blame my [summer of bishoujo->] project for this, because it required me to install more and more WordPress plugins.
Current Issues:
Annoying Quotes
I am very annoyed about how WP changes my quotes and triple dots, but I found a way to change them, thanks to Momotato.
before: “Hello†World
after: “Hello” World
before: I’m here
after: I’m here
before: dots…
after: dots…
Isn’t it more natural looking this time? Thank goodness I did.
Cross-linking
I’m using a different plugin this time for making cross-links to posts within my blog. Using the new one will make it link directly to the permalink instead of having an ugly *index.php?name=postname* url. This also avoids my problem of self-trackbacks when linking to my own post.
before: http://bluemist.animeblogger.net/index.php?name=gothloli
after: http://bluemist.animeblogger.net/archives/gothloli/
This is the main culprit as to why I’m gonna edit a LOT of posts, but I think this will be a permanent matter this time, so no more cleanups next time (I’m crossing my fingers).
Stupid Layout
I’ll never ever learn. See how weird the spacings are in the Categories section of the sidebar? And look how Blogroll and Hosted by sections have a dot on the title while others don’t. I SUCK at every kind of web programming. Look at the Meta section… it tells you that this blog is INVALID XHTML! MWAHAHAHA!
I also wanted to stretch this blog sideways because that gray area seems virtually unused, but heck I don’t know about HTML and CSS.
Anyway, those were just some of the stuff that concerns me today. While some are simply annoying, hey, I’m somehow getting to like this web stuff. Ultimate Blog Cleanup starts today, and I hope I can finish in a week’s time. Adios for now.
UPDATE: Thanks to Kabitzin, I learned a bit more about how CSS works! Thanks! The Blogroll and Hosted By sections do not have the annoying dot anymore… YAY! One more problem… the weird category spacings. Go me!
UPDATE 2: Never would have thought that making the blog wider would solve my category spacings too. This is nice enough, I’ll stick to this layout for a while.