Perhaps it is a coincidence? There exists a stage actor named Saotome Taichi who specializes in a class of theatrical performance called Taishuu Engeki (大衆演劇). Growing up in a troupe that is lead by his father, this young man has been seen to have a knack for portraying female characters on stage and in films. I came to realize his existence when he was featured on a Japanese magazine.

No. I am not implying that he reminds me of a certain anime character who is a Kabuki actor.

No. I am not suggesting anything.

But I wonder what is the difference between Kabuki and Taishuu Engeki?

[ID SOJOURNER] : Is he gonna be a pilot?

Best Mind Fart Show of 2008

Kimikiss Pure Rouge

A mind fart, according Urban Dictionary, happens when you think something is brewing but nothing comes out. A mind fart show has to be something that was promising initially but turned out to be a letdown. At the beginning, this show had a simple formula that was capable of capturing my attention: good chemistry that effused from the characters. But the magic faded away when Mao decided to have a go with Kooooouichi, rather than choosing saxo-boy. Moral of the story: the osananajimi bond is a powerful force that defies all odds, second only to the power of siscon/wincest.

Best LOL-Invoking  Despite The Fact That It Was Not Really Our Intention To Do So In The First Place Anime of 2008

Code Geass R2

Code Geass was very interesting to me because  it had featured an anti-hero like protagonist whose ideals were those that I could somehow relate to. I was initially excited by the first season because it had so much potential in becoming a compelling story about idealism and deep sh*t stuff but my hopes were dashed by its convoluted plot. Putting my disappointment aside, it was still an interesting watch to follow because of all the laughter it had brought. Do not get me started about how many memes and crazy shopped pictures it had spawned. So what if some people said it was a horrible show? They were just tsundere for it. After the show had ended, most anime fans suffered from withdrawal symptoms because of a lack of Code Geass. Code Geass, a personal disappointment and an unexpected surprise for me.

Also, notto disu shitto agen.

Most Spectacular Anime of 2008

Macross Frontier

I believe a spectacular “thing” is something that just simply succeeds at the task of awing the crowd. I, personally, found the first 15 episodes of Macross Frontier to be an overwhelming experience. Knowing how popular this show is, there is no need for me to reiterate its formula for success. Uh. Nevermind; I shall. Addictive music. Dogfights. POP SINGERS. Space battles that embodify the idea of “AWESOMENESS.” This show was one big romantic opera. I call it a romantic piece because it was brimming with an epic sense as I am constantly reminded that it is a tale of mankind expanding deeper into space.

Best Show That I Might Have Liked If I Had Watched It for 2008

Michiko To Hatchin

Lol. I do not even have a screen cap of it. This is just a hunch since the art is attractive to me.

Best Action Anime of 2008

SOUL EATER

People love to look down upon shounen shows because they are just about fighting. Well, it is an action genre so what can you expect? Hate bad shounen and not good shounen is my policy. This year’s best action anime for the Blue Fox Alley happens to be a shounen. Nothing can go wrong if you have Excalibur.

Best Drama of 2008

Gundam OO Season 1

Gundam OO had an ending that could have been more riveting if it had gone easy on the emo. But after overlooking that issue, which is always an irk as I am allergic to emo, you would fine a decently conducted conclusion. No one had expected the almighty Gundam meisters to suffer any casualties so the deaths of Lockon and other Celestial Being members brought a shock. Suffice to say, you have to watch the ending of the first season in order to understand why it has the best drama for the year 2008 in my opinion.

Best I Really Do Not Know Why Am I Watching Disu Shitto Anime of 2008

Junjou Romantica

I strongly believe that there are some aspects in life that simply cannot be explained. Defying logic and rationality, I found myself exploring the treacherous domain of butsecks and unrealistic homosexual romance. Fine. I was just watching this for the lulz. It was really entertaining. It was either this or Kanokon.

It Is Bad But I Am Just Gonna Keep Watching It Anime of 2008

Akane Iro Ni Somaru Saka

As someone has said, Akasaka might not impress but you are still going to watch it for a few reasons.

1. Tsukasa’s boobs of wonder
2. Tsundere Yuuhi
3. Trite story so trite that you cannot help but watch
4. “WINCEST”

Animeblogging Personality Of The Year 2008

Kaioshin-Sama

I belong to neither the “Kaioshin is nothing but a Sunrise fanboy” faction nor the “WTF IS WITH THE GUNDAM HATE! WE NEED CHANGE ON THE INTERNETS” faction, but the magnitude of the controversy that this one brave man has stirred is worthy of remembering as we are close to the end of this year. Nevertheless, this lovely piece of epic drama has shown the tendency for people to stir up reactions of extreme polarities when it comes to interacting on the Internet. But I believe just like how we view Code Geass, we are all tsundere for Kaioshin-sama. We love you!

Yup. He burned me too. :p

FINALLY

BLOG POST OF THE YEAR 2008

Kuro’s Single Awareness Day Post

Forget all those thought provoking posts. Forget about those troll posts. In fact, forget about everything that was blogged about! You just need to know that Kurogane ruptured the tubes with one single picture.

]]> http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/12/27/the-2008-bfa-award-ceremony/feed/ 20 The Sojourner http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/12/03/the-true-test-of-your-loyalty-to-macross-frontier/ http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/12/03/the-true-test-of-your-loyalty-to-macross-frontier/#comments Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:51:38 +0000 The Sojourner http://bluefoxalley.wordpress.com/?p=2168 Continue reading →]]> So I heard you are darn proud of being a fervent fan of the wildly popular Macross Frontier. You have all the albums for the show, you have collected almost all the merchandises out there that are related to the show, and you even flew down to a little island called Singapore to attend a May’n concert, paying for a Diamond pass that entitled you to receive a “whiteboard.”

Well my friend, allow me to put your so-called loyalty to the test. WOULD YOU BUY THIS? For approximately 800 US dollars, you will be the PROUD owner of premium Sheryl Nome, Ranka Lee and Clan Clang figurines plus quite a few little goodies! Apparently, it is one big bundle of pvc deculture.

Let the trial of fire begin.

Now back to my studies. So much for a hiatus. EVERYONE IS A HYPOCRITE. AMIRITE DOUBLE?

<ID SOJOURNER> Hey bro.

<The Sojourner> Huh?

<ID SOJOURNER> AFA is over. But I think something is awfully wrong.

<The Sojourner> That being?

<ID SOJOURNER> You know what could have been a really awesome way to conclude AFA?

<The Sojourner> Enlighten me.

<ID SOJOURNER> After a spectacular performance by the adored Ms. Mei Nakabayashi, there was a handshake and autograph session, am I right?

<The Sojourner> My friend, if you are still keen on stiring something up, I implore that you perish the thought.

<ID SOJOURNER> No no no! I felt that something was really lacking during that part of the concert, and if I am not wrong, the concert was the final event of the entire AFA.

<ID SOJOURNER> What they should have done is that when the first fan goes up to receive his copy of the autograph, the manager should hand him/her a PINEAPPLE CAKE instead.

<The Sojourner> …..

<ID SOJOURNER> With an apologetic expression, May’n would direct everyone’s attention to a big screen.

<ID SOJOURNER> FOLLOWING WHICH, A MUSIC VIDEO OF RICK ASTLEY’S NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP IS PLAYED ON THE SCREEN AS XEDO TROOPERS SEIZE ALL DIAMOND AND VIP HOLDING FANS AWAY UNDER THE SUSPICION OF ILLEGAL DOWNLOADING OF THE ANIME SHOW MACROSS FRONTIER!

Always applicable.

<ID SOJOURNER> What a sight it would have been to behold as the Xedo troopers drag the screaming otakus out of the convention after that rickroll.

<The Sojourner> You are sick.

<ID SOJOURNER> AND ALL THE ARRESTED FANS WOULD CRY, “DON’T TASE ME BRO!”

Okay. I was just joking. lol

Ranka as a boy? Gasp? But the song is strangely pleasant to listen.

And now, I shall hunt for Macross Frontier gender bending pictures. If you have some, do share.

This has been a sorry excuse of a post!

ID SOJOURNER: You have just gay for them. Haha! YOU WANT THEM INS*DE YOU!

The Sojourner: NO I AM NOT! *BLUSH*

ID SOJOURNER: HAHA! SELF DENIAL!

The Sojourner: Mind what you are saying, it means bad news for you too.

ID SOJOURNER: Oh yeah… Damn!

I have nothing to offer but this cool picture of a cool stick man holding a LOLipop. Enjoy!

If you think this blog is dying, then you are sort of right. There are a few reasons that is causing the lack of activity in this blog.

1. Stupid college student, The Sojourner, is struggling desu.- I am kinda serious. This is just my first year in college and it is tough trying to get decent grades. So I have no choice but to allocate more of my mental capacity into my studies.
2. misakichii found a job- He is no longer a NEET but he is too busy to do any regular blogging.
3. The P-Meister is writing a story…. YA RLY- The P-Meister tells me he is writing an epic, sci-fi, pseudo-religious, romance, action story that will be the ‘Next Greatest Story Ever Told‘. When he told me that Gundam 00 is his inspiration, I knew something bad was going to come out. I have seen the summary of his story and have read the first few chapters, and I can say that a genuine trainwreck was presented before me. Let’s just hope he gives up on his silly gimmick and get the hell back in the BFA. He still has a tab that is unpaid for.

OH AND FINALLY

I am such an idiot.

+90 e-p3n0r points if you know what I am trying to parody. It is kinda obvious. And yes, my proficiency in photoshop is somewhat lacking.

]]> http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/11/03/eyecatch-and-the-election-is-upon-us/feed/ 4 The Sojourner http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/09/30/spore-fanatics-a-look-into-starcraft-gundam-and-macross-models/ http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/09/30/spore-fanatics-a-look-into-starcraft-gundam-and-macross-models/#comments Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:33:32 +0000 The P-Meister http://bluefoxalley.wordpress.com/?p=1331 Continue reading →]]> Recently I did give an overall impression of the game Spore. Apparently, many fanatics from anime and games have sprouted and used the creature creator to make the races they like. I was appalled at the creativity of the online community which made my protoss ‘carrier’ look like a dumb mess.

I know my model looks horrid and nothing like a carrier. I did it in 10 minutes. Dang. and even my poor excuse for a protoss zealot look like terrorists:

Still, there are people who are more creative than me. It’ll be a sin not to share the love right?

STARCRAFT

A mutalisk

A protoss carrier which would have been nice if he put the yellow as gold.

And the award goes to:

The Protoss Collossus with a beautiful video sieging a city

Apparently terrans weren’t too popular though there are some creations on youtube.

GUNDAM

Archangel…

Anyway, we’re done with ships and I’m sure we’re all waiting for the mechas to be out… Sadly, there was a cap (unless you entered a cheat code) on the complexity of a model and sometimes they don’t look so good. Hence imagination must be used to create the best possible model with the least possible parts.

ZGMF-X10A Freedom

Gundam Wing, someone figured out it was retarded to fly while standing up.

Winner due to my biasedness however is:

I’m sure we’ll get plenty of viewers for the next season of 00, and new models on spore too!

Macross

I am not sure if they come from macross but i see the resemblence and no… they don’t transform in the game. Maybe you might be able to when the expansion comes out. WOOTz…

Worthy Mentions

Of course you can insist on making Starcraft, Gundam and Macross models but sometimes a little creativity is appreciated. To all Spore players, good luck in your creations. I hope these might inspire you. Lastly, a message to EA for wasting my bloody 10 hours of my life…

YOU!!!

The wait has been long but all that seems like a fading past for Macross Frontier is now shifting into overdrive gear, pumping the drama in huge dosage for us viewers.

Like the episode name suggested and has proven, Sheryl claims centre stage as she appears to have recovered from her recent fall. But there is more to just celebrating Sheryl’s recovery, this episode is about wounds. Generally it has all been relatively ‘peaceful’ to us viewers as our main characters are not directly affected by the Vajra crisis, in terms of death, as it is usually those poor NUN soldiers who are killed. With the attack of the Main Island, we the viewers are suddenly bumped by the disturbing possibility that anything can happen and we begin to worry for the characters whom we have come to adore after all those fun loving moments.

Not only is there the issue of dying, characters like Alto, Ranka and Sheryl are forced to take a step closer to a resolve of the ambiguous love triangle though a conclusion is still far from sight. And speaking of the two girls, I express regrets to see Ranka struggling to cope with the events due to her naivety. Totally understandable it is for me as she is, after all, just fifteen of age. Ranka is a girl who is still in the process of finding her place in the world, so naturally such a journey would involve disappointments and blunders. One example was when she sank into self-denial after seeing Alto and Sheryl being in an intimate situation and briefly refused to sing to pacify the Vajras so that she could claim some attention from Alto but thankfully Sheryl helped the girl to snap out of it. Sheryl’s maturity is also a suprise to me, since she is rather young as well. She is just seventeen, mind you.

The actions of the two ladies in the next few episodes will be crucial in determining the ending of the story, assuming there will be a couple at the end of it all. The challenge is presented before them, the people of Frontier are drowning in despair and hatred for the disaster that has been imposed onto them. The approaches of the two singers in healing the broken hearts of the masses will somehow decide on Alto’s decision in chosen the one he loves as he is after all, one of the those in despair. And at this time of need, Alto is probably going to develop a desire to confide and seek out a sanctuary for his tired mind. So the one who can really be Alto’s pillar of mental support is probably the one Alto will fall in love with.

Episode 20 is testimonial to my stand that this is probably one of the best shows of recent, playing high on the notion of romance (not in terms of romance between man and woman) with the vastness of the whole picture and is a drama cleverly manipulating our emotions in a most subtle way. It is now thick with the putridity of conspiracy, anger, sadness and despair. So we now pray that the lions will lick their wounds, recover and survive this tribulation.

Macross Frontier is romantic, as I have said. I felt it that way when the Deculture episode explained about the history of humanity spreading its existence across the universe until current times in Frontier.

P.S. Now I really wish Michel will come back as a cyborg. I cannot stand a crying Klan.

]]> http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/08/25/macross-frontier-wounded-lions/feed/ 9 The Sojourner http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/08/21/anifacts-03-anime-insight-before-macross-frontier-19/ http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/08/21/anifacts-03-anime-insight-before-macross-frontier-19/#comments Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:00:31 +0000 The P-Meister http://bluefoxalley.wordpress.com/?p=1027 Continue reading →]]> In response to Macross Frontier ep. 19, I decided to write a post as everyone now knows that Ai (Ranka’s pet) is a Vajra larvae, however, some people would have already speculated that before episode 19. Why? Because anime give hints all the time. And this is a hint that only the blind would miss. I’m sorry if you’re blind. =X

Surprised? I’m sure some of you would have passed it off as a small design or prolly would have had the same guess as me. Alas, there is one more thing that is shown which may prove something in the future. Of course, I can’t be sure because I didn’t write MF. Let me give you a hint however… something purple.

now you can see Ai more clearly right?

Alas, notice that in the same scene, a purple crystal is rotated on the screen several times. We know a purple crystal that has been of focus in the series, yes… Sheryl’s earring!!! OMG. What does that got to do with this. I am a person who likes to believe in conspiracy theories, and so my hypothesis is Sheryl’s got something to do with the Vajra and that her illness is something that is either curable by the Vajra or caused by the Vajra.

Conclusion

Many times we hardly pay attention to the minor details of anime, but sometimes they are valuable to our knowledge base. We should speculate inaccurately about it however but keep those thoughts in mind, so that when the truth is revealed, we know that we have found these easter eggs of truth. I hope you don’t spend two hours scouring each anime episode. Finding such details may mislead you and bring you to vague and inaccurate conclusions.

Do this sport for fun as anime is meant to be enjoyed, not studied. If you are blind, then live with it, there’s always the BFA to tell you stuff. The P-Meister is a walking cane for all who are blind. WAHAHAHHA.

ID SOJOURNER’S HIJACK

Haha. Funny dude! Lemme share a piece of the conversation that we had on MSN in regards to this post.

P-Meister: Finished a post. Go read it when you have the time.

ID Sojourner: What is the purpose of your ani-facts posts?

P-Meister: Uh… To give small tiny facts about anime that is insightful.

ID Sojourner: What’s up with the purple crystal?

P-Meister: Hmm, dunno, seems to have something to do with sheryl’s earring.

ID Sojourner: Wow. I never noticed that! You are great to have spotted that!

P-Meister: Hmm, tyvm

ID Sojourner: You are awesome.

P-Meister: I wonder if this is a winrar’s praise or not.

ID Sojourner: Definitely. Makes you an hero.