Da Capo: Kotori Shirakawa

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Let’s admit, Kotori is the #1 girl of the Da Capo series. It’s almost always tradition that most female leads of bishoujo games only settle for second place in the hearts of many-a-bishoujo gamers ([legions of Tamaki fans->toheart2-tamaki-kousaka] come into mind), so Nemu takes a back seat. In the case of Da Capo, Kotori Shirakawa is what you can say as the “perfect girl”. She’s sweet, kind, smart, loves to sing, and is the most popular school idol.

This is the reason why so many of us were disappointed with the [second season->da-capo-second-season] of the Da Capo anime. We all thought Kotori will be the main girl, but then Aisia almost always steals her spotlight. The [first season->da-capo] did her justice, however, as apparently Kotori’s original scenario in the game was more or less executed well.

But of course we wouldn’t know the entire story about Kotori without playing the game, right? Unfortunately no Da Capo game is available in English. Thankfully though, some kind folks have been strutting their stuff in translating them. Maybe you know already, but not so long ago there was a partial translation patch for D.C.P.C. (Da Capo Plus Communication) that included the entire Kotori scenario. I thank those guys very very much. If you are a Kotori fan even in miniscule scale, go grab the game somewhere and install the patch. If it’s not a possibility though, maybe you would settle for my summary? So finally, here she is, Kotori Shirakawa!

Disclaimer: I played Da Capo Plus Communication, and so some additional scenes and characters may have been added which were not present in the very first version of the game scenario. Also, even though it is available in English, my memory might fail me, so please do comment or contact me in case I have mistakes in describing each girl’s scenario.
Continue reading Da Capo: Kotori Shirakawa

Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 8: More Pain

April 3, 2006

It’s probably final. Animax-Asia is now completely out of my system.

Practically, Animax-Asia is still here, on Channel 46 of my cable TV… but I don’t tune in anymore. This, despite a rather excellent lineup yet again. Also it seems like they tweaked a bit of their programming schedules. What was knows as Kids Hour is now named Girl Power (shoujo anime lineup), followed by Shonen Walker (shounen anime), Animania (probably mainstream), Megazone (semi-hardcore), and finally Super Maniac (hardcore). Oh, some animes in Super Maniac still is in English dub, so I wouldn’t call that as hardcore too much.

Some current anime highlights include the ever-popular Detective Conan, shounen classics Yu Yu Hakusho and Flame of Recca, shoujo classic Fushigi Yuugi, and a whole bunch of very recent anime, some of which other anime bloggers have been featuring for the past years:
– Emma
– Gakuen Alice
– Kino no Tabi
– Mahou Shoujo Tai
– Onegai Teacher
– Otogizoshi
– Twin Spica
– Windy Tales
– Zettai Shounen

Amazing lineup yet again… disappointing English dubbing yet again. This month we also have the CLAMP-crossover anime Tsubasa Chronicle, aptly translated by the channel as Chronicle of the Wings. Classy name, but I guess it’s a clear indication of English dubbing. You can’t escape English dubs. Oh, and next month we have the current king of shounen anime, Fullmetal Alchemist on queue. Still not sure if the English dub will be from inhouse Animax-Asia dubbers, or from Funimation in the US.

Take note, some English dubs come from official US dub releases from TV or DVD, but the vast majority of them come from Animax-Asia’s own in-house dubbing. Because of this, you hear the same voices in almost all anime! The whole channel sounds so freaking redundant. No, this is not the same as hearing [Yui Horie->horie-yui] in so many anime, this is a negative thing. You hear the same voice intonation, no modifications at all. Picture this: Sakura of CCS and Sakura of Ultra Maniac. They share the same English dub voice actress in Animax-Asia. While you can argue that they are both energetic mahou shoujo characters, you also believe that they shouldn’t sound the same (age, accent, etc.) Alas, they do in the Animax-Asia dubs. Multiply that with so many other characters sharing that same voice actress (that girl must be rich by now, starring in so many anime dubs), and you have a generic sounding anime channel.

Come to think of it, I’ve been complaining about it since day one! You must be tired of hearing me bash Animax-Asia for the entire duration of this series, so I’ll be giving more of its good points. First up, they added GameMax, a video game feature show. Very nice considering there ain’t much shows of that type out here. Animax Musix (jpop music video features) now has its own 30-minute slot, aside from the random ones in other slots. They finish the music video sometimes, and now even has a ‘fact bar’ at the bottom citing news, history, and other stuff about the artist featured. Great for discovering nice info about jpop, which I sorely lack nowadays.

Lastly, I had to tell my most important recommendation for this channel, and I hope that Animax-Asia hears this somehow (I’m a mere blogger though and my opinions are close to nil in terms of influence.) If they really want to follow their motto of “Anime for everyone”, and if they want to avoid rabid bashing from anime fans (include me in that partially), it’s very simple… show “both” a subbed and dubbed version of an anime. Okay, so you have a dubbed Cardcaptor Sakura at 4:00PM, why not show a ‘subbed’ Cardcaptor Sakura, at even an obscure time like 2AM or something like that? I’m sure all those kids who only want their anime in English/Taglish are already asleep by that time. Remember, Japanese otakus stay up in that time of night to watch their hardcore anime. If done that way, it may give a bit of positive rapport for the channel without hurting their… er… profit. You have a 24-hour anime channel. Know your audience, and use your programming effectively. You can profit more.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 1: The end of Animax-Asia? Too sudden!?->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 2: Cardcaptured.->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 3: Trying to Adjust->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 4: Towards the 1st Anniversary->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 5: I gave up on Animax-Asia->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 6: One year since->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 7: Dubbed in Filipino?!?->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 7.5: Initial D Filipino Stage->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 8: More Pain->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 9: Now in blue->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 10: Fake Revival->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 11: Something New->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 12: Red with anger->]

April Anime Season (Spring 2006)

Time to cry again.

This is probably the season with the best lineup of potentially good anime I have ever encountered so far… and it came at the worst possible time… when I’m busy.

It has everything. Bishoujo? Check. Shoujo? Check. Sequels? Check check check. There’s something for everyone in this new season. Prepare to smoke your computer/TV/portable screens.

For the comprehensive list, go here and here.

Ah! My Goddess 2nd season – Oh my gawdness… I barely finished the first yet.

Ergo Proxy – Probably the front runner of this season’s action anime genre.

Finalist – From a Princess Soft game. More girls.

Fushigiboshi no Futagohime Gyu! – The cutest twin magical princesses in anime-dom returns for yet another year. I know who’s most happy with this.

.hack//Roots – Those .hacks were nice time wasters back when I had only a few anime to watch. If this turns out to be the same slow-poke, I’d drop it.

Higurashi no Naku koro ni – I’ve been hearing about how this is the second most popular doujin game ever made ([Tsukihime->type-moon] is the champ). It’d be nice to see why.

Inukami! – Probably a cliche, but nevertheless, cute animation design.

Joshikousei GIRLS-HIGH – If it’s about joshikousei, it must be good. Popular seiyuu are here.

NANA – If 2005 was the year of [Hanadan->hana-yori-dango], 2006 is the year of NANA. This is one of the biggest shoujo series of recent memory, and I am already excited since I am thirsty for shoujo already (too much bishoujo).

School Rumble 2nd Semester – Make way for the funniest school anime without Osaka-san! A definite watch!

Soul Link – NAVEL’s older game before their popular one [Shuffle->].

Strawberry Panic – I seemed to have learned not to skip a Dengeki G’s series, even if it turns out horribly average. There’s something in the way they draw bishoujo.

Suzumiya Haruhi – Late update… what the heck was I thinking? Leaving out the potential School Rumble counter-programming of the season? By Kyoto Animation no less!

Tsubasa Chronicle 2nd season – Must… not… miss… Sakura-chan.

Tokko – From the author of GTO. I miss that anime. I hope Tokko is as crazy/cool as that.

Utawarerumono – A classic game from [Leaf->leaf-aquaplus]. Please don’t let it be a [disaster->to-heart-remember-my-memories] on [rails->toheart2-review] again.

XXXHOLiC – Seems to be a two-punch for CLAMP this season. Nice. Hope to see more crossovers.

Yume Tsukai – Looks nice. I’ll give it a whirl.

Da Capo Second Season

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It’s always hard to have a sophomore outing. It always gets compared to the first. The entire Da Capo game franchise seemed to escape itself away from this dilemma, by bombarding the audience with all things Da Capo. With the possibly annoying array of versions, revisions, sidestories, and fandisks of the [Da Capo games->Circus] alone, coupled with multiple manga and anime serializations, comparing each is no use. Just enjoy the Da Capo mythos. But in case of the anime versions, we need to look at the [first season->da-capo] as reference to Da Capo Second Season, because it is not a version or revision of the original, it is a sequel.

With DCPS ending, the Da Capo anime has now become the longest running anime franchise of the bishoujo game genre. 52 episodes of fun with rainbow-colored hair and cute girls. Each season had its own unique share of positive and negative traits, but overall a worthy watch, especially if you had been looking through your mountain pile of Da Capo games. And the heat rises further, as Da Capo Second Season adds more girls into the already crowded fray of multiple hair colors and different personalities. You’re really bound to like at least one of them. The main guy actually has a literal change of character art in the new season, but who cares about the guy anyway?

Ironically, one new main character didn’t actually come from the games. Aisia, a new girl with mysterious powers, was derived from a manga serialization called Da Capo Second Graduation. The other new characters came from the Da Capo Plus Situation game. Some DCPS characters actually didn’t make the cut, one is really missing, one remains a cameo, and another one… hmm… let’s just say that she is there but not really.

The story carries over from the first season, two years later. The mysterious power within the cherry blossoms are gone, main girls Nemu and Sakura are abroad, and all seems certain that [Kotori->da-capo-kotori-shirakawa] (arguably one of the most favorable Da Capo girls) will take the limelight and shine. One problem though, Aisia steals the limelight more often than not, plus with (ooh spoiler) Nemu and Sakura returning once again, it is now a whole new battle for the love of this one boring male lead.

I hope to fully put the entire season in perspective, but really, everything that happens in Da Capo Second Season involves Aisia. I hope I was correct in saying that. Even when there were episodes that feature the other new characters, Aisia plays a vital part in each of their stories. This I think is where the second season is weak as compared to the first. There is little room for character development or focus for all the other girls. While you may argue that some have already developed (because of the first season), for an anime of the bishoujo genre, characters are more important than plot. I would have preferred more Mako episodes myself. Along with character development, Aisia was granted the key to open the door of the main plot of the second season. What convenience, Aisia gets all the attention. As I said, viewers may think that this season is all about Aisia AND Kotori (as implied in the OP sequence), but it turns out that Kotori stays to be coincidential rather than central to the plot.

In any case, Da Capo Second Season as a story is an excellent follow-up to the first Da Capo. It raises a lot of questions to the conclusion of the first season, and answers them one-by-one. The first season’s ending did have some logical and moral faults, and I was glad that DCSS transcended beyond the original content toward a more “true” conclusion this time around. But with Aisia getting more screentime, I figured that they never needed a entire length of 26 episodes in order to explain the point. If anything, I really hoped that more focus should have been dealt on the new DCPS girls and Kotori herself. It doesn’t need to be this focused on Aisia alone. I admit, Aisia rocks, but alienating fans of all the other Da Capo girls… a no-no.

Despite this, I really enjoyed the run. Character animation looks more consistent, the background music again memorable, and excellent songs again coming from no other than [Yui Horie->horie-yui] (Kotori) and yozuca* and rino/CooRie.

If anything, this may be the real time to close the huge Da Capo franchise. Onwards to DC II perhaps? I think it has already proven its point, each character strong enough to remain a bishoujo anime icon. If you can stomach the barrage of Aisia-only goodness, Da Capo Second Season is a worthy watch.

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This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature

Project Hiatus 2: Cardcaptor Sakura

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Before bluemist anime blog @ animeblogger.net, and before the old bluemist anime blog (gone now), my very first web project was a relatively unpopular Cardcaptor Sakura fansite, called the bluemist cardcaptor sakura anime reference. As you can see, it’s also gone now and incomplete. After having this anime blog, I never got to finish that site.

Maybe it was boredom or a change of hype, since I was more into [ToHeart2->], [bishoujo games->summer-of-bishoujo] and [live-action->live] stuff last year. Nevertheless, Cardcaptor Sakura remains and still is the very root of all the anime evil that I’ve been writing about up until now. Yes, being my personal best anime EVER, I blame Cardcaptor Sakura for my anime fandom, and I realized that it is somewhat a necessity for me to finish what I have started, that old site itself.

I decided to do this now since I am not quite active in the latest anime season anyway, because of lack of interest for certain new anime. I also decided to finish that CCS unfinished business, in order to move on to some… er… bigger, [MORE IMPOSSIBLE->doremi] stuff very soon. I’m also predicting that real life obligations will take more pieces of time away from me yet again.

And so in line with this, I will be putting this blog on a certain semi-hiatus state. Updates may be few and far between again, just like [last time->project-hiatus], whenever I just feel like it. I’ll be doing the CCS site and this blog in a more casual manner, in the hopes of fitting into my busy schedule.

Actually, I’m still debating on whether to incorporate my CCS site into this anime blog as a project as well. It may be too much work, but it should be perfect for my [Retro->] status isn’t it?

In any case, that’s it. I’m still here, but I’ll be less active… as if I am active at all. Bye for now.

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To Heart 2: Tamaki Kousaka

Generic disclaimer: Same basic rules apply as in my [To Heart 2->toheart2] project. Please do comment or contact me in case I have mistakes in describing each girl’s scenario.

Next to Konomi, Tamaki’s scenario is one of the easiest to understand. I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

This one takes the cake, and it surprised me the most. My least favorite To Heart 2 girl actually has one of the best scenarios in the game! I admit that Tamaki didn’t interest me at all when I was playing through Konomi’s scenario. But after playing this one, I can now understand why there seem to be more Tamaki fans than fans of any other girl in To Heart 2. And so with that said, I’ll give you a glimpse of Tamaki’s story.

Okay, so basically the initial events play out the same way as Konomi’s, so please refer to these important days for further understanding, if you haven’t read them yet.
[To Heart 2: March 20->]
[To Heart 2: March 21->]
[To Heart 2: April 7->]
[To Heart 2: April 8->]
[To Heart 2: April 9->]
[To Heart 2: April 12->]

image Continue reading To Heart 2: Tamaki Kousaka

To Heart 2: Yuma Tonami

Generic disclaimer: Same basic rules apply as in my [To Heart 2->toheart2] project. Please do comment or contact me in case I have mistakes in describing each girl’s scenario.

I’m a bit ok this time, but towards the end, it got quite confusing. In any case, Yuma’s scenario had gone quite smoother than Manaka’s, at least I never saw myself scratching my head all the time. Thanks to moyism also for helping me figure out the story!

imageimage Continue reading To Heart 2: Yuma Tonami

To Heart 2: Manaka Komaki

Generic disclaimer: Same basic rules apply as in my [To Heart 2->toheart2] project. Please do comment or contact me in case I have mistakes in describing each girl’s scenario.

Futility.

All throughout this scenario, all I am feeling is futility. This is the the hardest scenario I have played so far, in terms of not understanding what the heck is going on. I fear for the future, if ever I still have the guts to play the scenarios of other To Heart 2 girls. Because of this, please expect that the things I will say about Manaka “will have errors”. Having said that, why am I still relaying potentially erratic information through this blog? Sorry, but I love To Heart 2, and I think you will, too. I really hope that those guys doing the To Heart 2 translation would do it for real, and completely. I don’t care how much time it takes, as long as there is hope that I can correct all these information. Oh well, let’s go back to our regular programming.

image Continue reading To Heart 2: Manaka Komaki

DC++

Let’s start the ball rolling!

Who will win Junichi’s heart in Da Capo Second Season?
Would you even care?

This post is a DCSS analysis post. I’ll keep track of all the craziness, on how much these Da Capo girls love the boring male lead. I’ll reward each DC girl with points depending on the events that happen. And to keep things crazier, I’ll do this in the prententious and entirely fictional DC++ programming language! Don’t take the programming thing too seriously though, it’s just for presentation purposes. And of course, the point system is entirely my bias, so it’s just my personal analysis on who leads the race.

Please do check this post often because it continually updates.

============================

As of Episode 10:

Current Tally:
Kotori = 24 (+20 +3 +2 +2 -10 +3 +3 +1)
Aisia = 29 (+1 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 -3 +3 +3)
Nemu = 33 (-5 +3 +30 -3 -5 +10 +3)

Kotori is extremely side-character lately. Nemu seems that way as well in the latest episode. Looks like the new D.C.P.S. characters will share the limelight with D.C.S.G. new character Aisia, although it seems that despite episode 10 being a Tamaki episode, Aisia shares or steals the spotlight from her. I want another Tamaki episode, so I hope the format for this second season is the same (bring in a filler ep. or two for each character, then also a ‘dramatic’ finale ep. for each character towards the end.)

Mako = 4 (+2 +1 +1)
Miharu = 7 (+2 +2 +3)
Moe = 1 (+1)
Alice
Nanako = 3 (+3)
Tamaki = 4 (+1 +3)
Izumiko
Mystery Girl
Sakura = -4 (-5 +1)
Yoriko = -4 (+1)
Kasumi = -5

============================


^define major girls {
[kotori]high contender for junichi’s heart, and one of the most popular bishoujo ever[/kotori]
[aisia]new contender, a magician, and temporary maid of the junichi house[/aisia]
[nemu]previous winner, has just come back, the school nurse, and still asakura-imouto[/nemu]
}

^define minor girls {
[mako]my favorite DC girl, may she not be in junichi’s evil love arms[/mako]
[miharu]banana freak, nemu’s most active yuri lover[/miharu]
[moe]mako’s sister, has the best body proportions, has the worst mind sanity[/moe]
[alice]new DCPS girl, has amazing acrobatic abilities, has the most quiet reputation[/alice]
[nanako]new DCPS girl, manga addict[/nanako]
[tamaki]new DCPS girl, some kind of traditional japanese girl[/tamaki]
[izumiko]she’s the pink bear[/izumiko]
[mysterygirl]probably some of you know already, but i’ll keep this as a mystery for now[/mysterygirl]
}

^define hiatus girls {
//note: The hiatus girls (including Nemu) start up with -5 points in the tally.
[sakura]a previous major contender, currently nowhere[/sakura]
[yoriko]the ever-loved nekomimi maid, maybe still a cat[/yoriko]
[kasumi]a DCPS girl, seems like she’s not around yet[/kasumi]
}


^ events {
[miharu]Well, the banana incident left Miharu a bit of banana-phobia. I’d give her points for waking Junichi up sometimes.[/miharu]
[kotori]Definitely Kotori has the lead here. We see her walking home with Junichi, which I assume has been an everyday affair. Even taking a bath in his house… whoa! Definitely posing to be one of Junichi’s major heart grabbers![/kotori]
[aisia]First appearance. She says “I’m hungry, falling into Junichi’s arms. Kotori saw the whole thing. Hehe, did it cause Kotori some bit of jealousy? Dunno, but I’ll give her a point up.[/aisia]
}

^ deliberation {
[miharu]2 points[/miharu]
[kotori]20 points[/kotori]
[aisia]1 point[/aisia]
}


^ events {
[kotori]She’s been trying to find Junichi here, and even helps him out for Aisia’s sake.[/kotori]
[aisia]Very quiet girl. She’s trying to find Sakura’s grandma, with the help of Junichi.[/aisia]
[sakura]Because of this, maybe memories of Sakura linger on with Junichi, so I’ll add her a point.[/sakura]
}

^ deliberation {
[kotori]3 points[/kotori]
[aisia]5 points[/aisia]
[sakura]1 point[/sakura]
}


^ events {
[aisia]O MY GAWD! An extreme change of personality, Aisia becomes a maid! Junichi is Goshujin-sama![/aisia]
[nemu]All of Junichi’s thoughts about Nemu is bugging me quite a bit. I’d give her 3 points this time, based on how often he thinks about her… for almost 3 episodes already.[/nemu]
[mako]Mako’s not very happy that Aisia is living with Junichi, so Aisia stays with the Mizukoshis for a while.[/mako]
[moe]Well… she helped out a bit so… one point.[/moe]
}

^ deliberation {
[aisia]5 points[/aisia]
[nemu]3 points[/nemu]
[mako]2 points[/mako]
[moe]1 point[/moe]
}


^ events {
[aisia]Another Aisha-centric episode. She thinks the school is some kind of Hogwarts, and invokes magical chaos all in the name of her beloved master.[/aisia]
[kotori]Helping out. I think she’s being continually pushed away these days.[/kotori]
[tamaki]Offers to help find Aisha.[/tamaki]
[mako]Helps find her too… and continually gets angry with Junichi (a little sign of affection)[/mako]
}

^ deliberation {
[aisia]5 points[/aisia]
[kotori]2 points[/kotori]
[tamaki]1 point[/tamaki]
[mako]1 point[/mako]
}


^ events {
[aisia]Yet another Aisha episode! Gets in some… sticky situations with Junichi. And instead of goshujin-sama, Aisha calls him as Junichi now.[/aisia]
[kotori]Helping them out of their sticky situation.[/kotori]
[mako]Helping them out as well.[/mako]
[nanako]One of Nanako’s manga characters definitely looks like Junichi. She blushed when Aisia noticed it.[/nanako]
}

^ deliberation {
[aisia]5 points[/aisia]
[kotori]2 points[/kotori]
[mako]1 point[/mako]
[nanako]3 points[/nanako]
}


^ events {
[nemu]Ah… yes! The so-called ‘evil’ has returned to haunt the DCSS crew! Junichi’s coming back to his sis-con![/nemu]
[kotori]The shock on Kotori’s face! Plus the cold shoulder! It’s a negative for Kotori fans![/kotori]
[miharu]Junichi seems unusually happy that Miharu has some kind of love life. Of course it’s a misunderstanding, but her yuri-complex just rose with Nemu’s return. As butterfly effect I’ll give her some points.[/miharu]
}

^ deliberation {
[nemu]30 points[/nemu]
[kotori]-10 points[/kotori]
[miharu]2 points[/miharu]
}

^ notes {
– Why is Mako not so close to Nemu this time around? In season one Mako used to be one of Nemu’s best friends. Ooh, she seems so distant this time. I’m afraid Mako’s slowly turning into the sidelines. And being Suginami’s fight-partner for so many episodes already… the shame. I want a Mako-centric episode NOW!
}


^ events {
[nemu]A misunderstanding tipped her down a bit, but I think it’s never major. Misunderstandings always happen with Junichi and Nemu anyway.[/nemu]
[kotori]Aah… good strategy. Keeping your enemies closer eh? Kotori gives Nemu a little ‘yoroshiku’ on their pet talk.[/kotori]
[aisia]Aisia talked a bit of sense to Junichi, so her ratings go up this time.[/aisia]
}

^ deliberation {
[nemu]-3 points[/nemu]
[kotori]3 points[/kotori]
[aisia]5 points[/aisia]
}


^ events {
[nemu]The misunderstanding continues, and it even brought about the Dark Nemu accent. While Junichi realizes his mistake toward the end, Nemu is burying herself deeper into despair.[/nemu]
[kotori]Keeping her enemies closer again, this time, she talks to Aisia. Kotori is very, very sneaky. At the same time, she doesn’t involve herself on Junichi and Nemu’s conflicts. Smart.[/kotori]
[aisia]It’s Aisia’s first slip. She tried to do something amusing in the heat of an Junichi-Nemu fight, with bad effect.[/aisia]
}

^ deliberation {
[nemu]-5 points[/nemu]
[kotori]3 points[/kotori]
[aisia]-3 points[/aisia]
}

^ notes {
– Dark Nemu is in full Force this episode. I like the way she talks when she does that. It’s so formal and at the same time angsty.
– I really, really hate that Mako isn’t even concerned about Nemu’s problems. Her character doesn’t seem to be carried over from the first season. What’s with that?
}


^ events {
[nemu]Nemu and Junichi finally made up! Are we back to incest mode?[/nemu]
[aisia]Aisia helped solved Nemu and Junichi’s mini-fight.[/aisia]
[miharu]Miharu helped too.[/miharu]
[yoriko]Yoriko’s master appeared.[/yoriko]
}

^ deliberation {
[nemu]10 points[/nemu]
[aisia]3 points[/aisia]
[miharu]3 points[/miharu]
[yoriko]1 point[/yoriko]
}


^ events {
[nemu]Spent so many days watching DVDs with her nii-san. What bonding! (half-sarcastic)[/nemu]
[aisia]Thought that miko powers = magic. Annoyed the baseball team, but at least had a bit of good result.[/aisia]
[tamaki]Showed off her miko powers! Go Tamaki![/tamaki]
[kotori]She’s… just… there.[/kotori]
}

^ deliberation {
[nemu]3 points[/nemu]
[aisia]3 points[/aisia]
[tamaki]3 points[/tamaki]
[kotori]1 point[/kotori]
}

^ notes {
– This seems to be the start of a filler arc surrounding the new characters which were not in the first season. As a result, minimal point system will be attributed because this does not concern Junichi too much anyway.
}

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This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature

Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 6: One year since

Animax-Asia

August 1, 2005

It’s been one year since the historic reformat of Animax-Asia, alienating so many Japanese dub lovers all over the Philippines and the rest of Asia. Believe it or not, ever since I have started this crappy rant, nothing very significant from Animax-Asia has ever changed. The same stellar new anime premiers and lineups every month, same excellent programming scheme, but still the same good and crappy dubs with the same lineup of voice actors.

One of the biggest changes was the separation of a unique Philippines-only cable feed from Animax-Asia. Animax-Asia headquarters are situated in Singapore, and being broadcast over some countries in Asia by cable companies. At one point, the network split a feed exclusively for Philippines viewers only. Apparently, a big voice of complaint from the Filipino fans of the Saiyuki series, having seen English dubs of the Saiyuki Reload and Gunlock series which they didn’t like, forced the network to do so. Wow, I guess you can see that in this country people power is one way to get some change. The fans complain, the network answered. The Saiyuki sequels were rebroadcast in their original Japanese language with English subtitles. In addition, the 6-7PM timeslot which used to be an English dub slot was changed to a subtitled slot to accomodate Saiyuki Reload and Gunlock, as well as other new subtitled anime like Witch Hunter Robin and Samurai 7.

That’s kinda good news right? Well, there may be more subtitled timeslots but there is a drought of subtitled anime. So many reruns aired into the few subtitled timeslots. Furthermore, some good anime such as Cowboy Bebop and Gankutsuou (yes Gankutsuou!), which I expected to be broadcast in subtitles, were broadcast in English dub instead.

They need to get their act together now. Anime is getting more and more popular over here. Many popular titles have graced the local scene lately, and I have even spotted anime merchandise in mainstream shops, something that I have not seen before. Most important of all, Animax-Asia will have competition! A Philippine broadcasting company has just released Hero, the very first locally based, predominantly anime cable channel in the country! This is a milestone here, because, well, how many countries have an exclusively anime channel?

While Hero will just have Filipino language dubs (yup, no subs too), it is still competition for Animax-Asia here. Our country is one of their biggest markets of course, judging from the way they even accommodated a separate feed for us, and having another channel eat a bit of their audience pie will be bad news for them (Hero has certainly caught my attention too). Couple that with their already battered reputation because of their English dubs… it’s a shame really. They really have a lineup to die for (some of them are listed at ANN Encyclopedia). If only they could clearly define what animes in their lineup deserved to be shown in subtitles or in English dubs… they would have a better score for me.

By the way, I like their Animax Musix slots. That program shows jpop videos! Their lineup for jpop always seems to be lagging only mere months, and the really mainstream popular stuff are there. The only caveat is that they never finish each video to the end, but nevertheless it’s a nice exposure to jpop.

As usual, their animes are great but some are not projected rightfully because of the English dubs. Cardcaptor Sakura was finally continued in its second and third seasons, but it is still the same dub as I mentioned before. It’s kinda weird that the original Mobile Suit Gundam was shown in dub while the sequels Z and ZZ were shown subbed. The once subbed Texhnolyze was reverted into dubs now. Also, two Digimon animes were shown, and guess what… they used our local English dub! They used the English dub that our own local dubbers made, resulting it into a kinda Engrish-accented dub (while we have high English literacy, some do not speak English fluently [include me in that]). I heard that they will show [Tsukihime->type-moon] in subs, and that’s something for me to eagerly await.

UPDATE: Oof, Tsukihime has some cuts. I’m not impressed (yet again).

Anyway, that’s the story so far. Animax-Asia is still hanging on. Hopefully, some radical change should make me watch the channel regularly again, but I don’t think it will happen very soon.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 1: The end of Animax-Asia? Too sudden!?->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 2: Cardcaptured.->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 3: Trying to Adjust->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 4: Towards the 1st Anniversary->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 5: I gave up on Animax-Asia->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 6: One year since->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 7: Dubbed in Filipino?!?->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 7.5: Initial D Filipino Stage->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 8: More Pain->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 9: Now in blue->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 10: Fake Revival->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 11: Something New->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 12: Red with anger->]

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