Everything.

It’s been a busy weekend so I apologize if no post comes up until Monday or possibly Tuesday (y’know, Pacific Time). I suppose as a teaser I’ll let on it involves some predictions, arguments, and comparisons between some of the most heated harem-style romantic wars this season. Which, y’know, is basically what I’ve done about 25 times already - and still loving it - but this time I’ll see if I can understand just why fans think the way they do. For instance, why do we only cry tears for the ‘fallen’ in Clannad, while we go and construct effigies to burn ‘less deserving’ leaders in KimiKiss?

(And by ‘we’, I might just be getting at ‘me’.)

Again, it’s a ‘what makes things tick’ question, and the answer is: explosive devices. Or, at least explosive characters. Damn those haremettes for actually having personality!

The main reason for the delay is an impromptu trip down to Anime On Display today, so maybe if I see anything interesting in my first convention I’ll cover that.

And now, images.

(Invisible Update:) Well, not really. Imageshack be hatin’ on me, so I’ve uploaded a zip file to MegaUpload instead. Download and enjoy. Thanks for your patience.

-CCY
(In other news of the random, went to try Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2 in the arcade yesterday, and it turns out they have a Gurren Lagann song on there - “Trust”, and apparently it’s Yoko’s image song. They had the Sky Girls OP on there as well. Either Konami of America knows their audience - sweaty white anime fanboys - or they didn’t feel any reason to get rid of it from the Japanese conversion. It’s #1 on the Most Played list on the machine, too. Intriguing.)

(Part of a Anime Blogging Collective Valentine’s Day post rush; refer to IKnight’s handy article collection for links to all the others.)

Who is she? I don’t know, but she has glasses and a valentine. Instant kill, no saving throw.

With the rise of the Internet, it’s easier than ever for people to destroy their personal privacy and post up their biggest, darkest secrets all over the Web, where nobody - except everybody - can see it.

As such budding paparazzi such as myself consider the blogging scene a veritable goldmine for digging up the dirty, the dorky, and the dunce-headed on the most popular or intriguing idols of today, and this isn’t any exception when it comes to the anime community.

No, I’m not talking about the anime blogging community, as many iconic characters as it has. Rather, there’s a lot you didn’t know your favorite anime character was up to on everyone’s favorite romantic holiday, and I’ve taken it upon myself as a freelance reporter to peruse the masses of entries every day for the most exciting, interesting, and controversial stories of what “everyday” life shapes up to be for the biggest names in harem, magical girl, and straight-up romance anime. I think you’ll be very surprised at what dirt I’ve got on them.

(Disclaimer: As you may have guessed, this is a fictional entry based on fictional characters, and a lot of the preceding was patent nonsense. I’m not part of the paparazzi nor a reporter, and if you see any blogs by anime characters I think you need to pinch yourself a bit harder. This is just a fun little idea for a Valentine’s Day post, based off this similar Christmas idea by Stripey, in imagining the (likely much more exciting) happenings of some popular anime heroes and heroines. Please enjoy.

Oh, and yes, I’m trying to inject a little analysis into this as well; these shows all have ties to romance in some way - although most of them, as predicted from someone like me, are harem - and I’ll be commenting on why this show might be something interesting to watch for someone in the mood for a little lovin’ on a day like today.)

(Yeah, I kinda minorly spoil KimiKiss, ef, and Clannad, in a roundabout way.) (more…)

The “12 Days of Christmas” series is a joint feature by some members of the Anime Blogging Collective recognizing twelve moments, twelve series, or just twelve things about anime that we’ve enjoyed over the past year, that really make us enjoy loving what we do, and that is being an anime fan. Feel free to join in the list-making fun too if you wish. We hope you enjoy this feature.

Some things just can’t be denied in this world.

No matter how much of a soft-hearted, romance-loving, magical-girl-watching anime viewer I become, there are some things that just work every time with me, that just resonate strongly as a Great Moment.

It’s like sports to the average male. I don’t claim to watch football or baseball passionately, or even on a weekly basis, but when it’s bases-loaded with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game, the raw energy that such a moment can emit can be felt and enjoyed by just about any person.

Such is the case with a well-done fight scene in anime. Conflict is a key part to any show - whether action or romance, it be physical or emotional conflict - and when that conflict builds to a head, that’s when the real exciting stuff happens.

Physical conflict between characters is tough to do right. There’s a fine line of disbelief not to be crossed. But when a fight is made correctly - replete with exciting animation and high-energy - soundtrack, it’s something to be seen, even for the most avid harem lover like me.

And so enters another reason for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 4 (chronological) to become legendary.
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Another step towards complete anime geekery (one might say, to abuse more Japanese words, hikikomori-dom) is made with the purchase now of even more completely incomprehensible things from Japanese bookstores. The Haruhi Suzumiya artbook ‘fanbook’ and Shuffle! On the Stage artbook ‘visual guide’ were purchased for a combined total of less than 20 dollars, thanks to the awesome factor of a Los Angeles chain of stores called “Book Off”, which I found had lots of cheap things (these), lots of really cheap things (a $1 section including English manga, random Japanese artbooks and magazines, and a Gran Turismo 2 guide. Old-school’d.), and lots of really strange things (a strange manga title I didn’t bother to look into: “Rape+2Ï€r”). That are cheap.

While I am unable to provide pictures for these two I can still review them and provide some information, of which was sorely lacking when I tried to research these two the day before. (when drooling over them at twice-the-price Kinokuniya.)

Jump!
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You don’t really want to know.

You want to be fooled.

But you wouldn’t clap yet.

Because making something dissapear isn’t enough… (more…)