Guess what they did. *Hint: Not chess*

College hasth made me come out of the closet. It isth my true calling to be gay gay and yeah I really love Junjou Romantica because it is the besssth yaoi show eva! *teeth smack*

The likable cast from the firsth season isth back for another season of buttseckssth romance for us to enjoy. The firsth epeesode startsth with a statuss report of our favourite couple Misaki and Akihiiko still maintaining a healthy relationship. Nothing happened much except for the introduction of Akihiko’s brother, Haruhiko and I am soo looking forward to seeing his chest being bared!

Misaki is so cute! Kyaaaa~

Yeah! I am gonna keep blogging about thissth! *teeth smack*

The Sojourner: LIES! I DID NOT WRITE THIS!

ID SOJOURNER: Who did it???

For this eyecatch post, we are going to talk about how the summer season has been to us as we welcome the new season of anime shows plus some random thoughts.

The P-Meister

Gundam 00 is a must watch as i just finished my Throne Eins model and lost its gun while painting its legs. Stupid me. Now I will need to find a new model, obviously from the second season.

Clannad is something i might skip and take Akane Iro ni Somaru Saka. A show where sausages will gather in the tavern when i blog about it. If it is bad, I’ll always go to Clannad.

The DMC movie is a must watch too.

The only anime from prev seasons which i’ll be following will be Soul Eater. Hopefully after To Love Ru and Macross Frontier end, I might be able to find the time to pick another. I can’t wait to find out who Rito and Alto would end up with. The drama… *sigh*

Anyway, even if i were to pick up something, i was thinking of shifting to manga or divert a little into figurine collection/crafting and even RPGs. Other interesting activities are re-watching Slam Dunk again whilst figuring how to pass my second year exams. Dang! I’m spending most of my time studying at the moment.

misakichii

I can expect fall to be a great season for anime. Its the season for sequels! Gundam00, ef – a tale of melodies(EPIC WIN), shugo chara! 2, Clannad after story, Rosario Vampire and penguin musume heart. Not to forget the OVAs, Lucky Star and Seto no Hanayome.

There are the usual eroge to anime series (akane iro, chaos head), but whats special is the animefication of the popular “tales of” RPG series, Tales of Abyss. I had no idea it would be on TV when I started playing it 3 weeks ago. And boy, I’m at 40 hours of gameplay but I dont think I’m halfway through the game yet. Story is average, but the seiyuus that are made of pure win makes up for it. Yukana, Momoi, Takehito Koyasu and George Nakata. I started to have a liking for Yukana since i watched Oinari-sama.

Other new series include Tetsudo musume (I wonder what can they make up a plot with trains), Kemeko Deluxe and Toradora.

It was a pretty slow start for me for summer. Sekirei, Hidamari Sketch, ZnT and Nogizaka. They were ok, but they did not satisfy me much, especially Nogizaka, it was bad. But then came Strike Witches, which I started it while it was halfway through. It was the only anime moe enough for me.

And for my pick for weekly review? ef – a tale of melodies.

The Sojourner

I have to say that the shows that I have been following are mainly from the spring season with only Strike Witches and Nogizaka being the shows from the summer season that I am watching. It might be the case that I am just very picky but after seeing the AWESOMENESS of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Nanoha A’s, the shows of recent have been unable to excite me much. But Macross Frontier has been able to entertain me pretty well. It is epic but not EPIC and Ranka’s Ai Oboteimasuka was hauntingly beautiful but so inappropriate when it was sung. I have confidence that Kawamori and his team is able to pull off a decent ending for Frontier so I believe I am in for a treat when the conclusion arrives.

Moving on, I am fascinated by the ever changing online community as more blogs are born and new approaches in blogging are being discovered. I can guess that when anime blogging was new back then, the community was small and that made things very personal. But with more fans discovering the convenience of expressing their passion of the visual culture through the Internet, blogs and all sorts of sites have sprouted at a exponential rate (lol I am exaggerating)! Maybe it is right to say that the community is no longer the same but it appears to me that the anime loving community is simply branching into different ‘circles’ and it is the birth of such ‘circles’ that is creating new milieus for different means to express one’s unique love for Japanese culture. And it is the illusion of being overwhelmed by the evolution of the community that prompts an old-timer to think times have changed. The old path is still there, but there are new paths that have been paved that lie parallel to the old path.

And now I look towards the new season of anime. I am not really crazy about Clannad but having seen the first season of it, there is an obligation to follow the AFTER STORY arc. Apart from Clannad AFTER STORY, the second season of Gundam 00 is another show that I have to watch because I have seen the first season. So while Clannad and Gundam 00 are in my to-watch list because of self-imposed obligations, I express real interest in watching Nodame Cantabile 2. But wait! It is like a sequel as well!

You know what? I might just start episodic blogging for Nodame Cantabile.

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ID SOJOURNER

You want my opinion as well? Well I have one for Code Geass! The show is like the Wall Street financial crisis! Things are so messed up, and I do not know who to blame, but now the studio as a whole [like the government] is trying to sort things out to make a decent ending [through the purchase of those lousy bonds].

SO WHAT AM I GONNA WATCH FOR THE NEXT SEASON?

LEMME GIVE YOU A HINT!

REMEMBER THIS?

Yeah. We went back.

Because we were pretty late on Saturday, I was determined to get to the event by 4 pm so that we could catch most of the action. But due to unforeseen circumstances, the P-Meister and I went on a tour around the east area of Singapore. The two of us decided to make our decisions in which turn to take through random coin tossing. Heads would mean a left turn, tails would make me go straight. There was no option for turning right since I was driving on the extreme left lane.

I swear we passed this place more than four times.

We eventually found the venue and it was already 5.30pm. But before we entered the hall where the event was taking place, the two of us had to make a visit to the gents because of a long drive prior to arriving.

The venue, known as Downtown East, is a chill out place for the regular Singapore family during weekends. So quite a few non-anime fans, simply curious people, were checking out what was going on. And the first thing that was humourous to me was the fact the nearest washroom had a shared makeup area that branches off to the respective sectors for the gents and ladies. Because one would have to pass through the common makeup place, I chuckled at how some regular folks were surprised by the presence of anime fans who were visually uncommon in their attire aka cosplayers.

The event was taking place mainly in two areas, the hall where the competitions were taking place, and just outside the hall where the cosplayers would loiter around for DSLR wielding warriors to take shots of them.

Speaking of DSLR users. This picture is SO accurate about my feelings when I use my puny digicam next to them.

Entering the hall, I was blasted away by a sudden burst of squeals and screams when the Bleach cosplayer on stage blurted out the word ‘the fans want yaoi!’. So ID Sojourner suddenly had control over me and I was screaming ‘HO YEAH! YAOI!’. Personally I wonder why did ID not scream ‘FUCK YEAH! YAOI!’ instead. So I was actually quite excited to witness how the crowd was getting restless and the partner on stage giving suggestive hints about how they ought to appease the agitated mob. So that lead to more ‘HO YEAH! YAOI!’ from ID.

Sad to say, Singapore has yet to embrace the yaoi paddle culture so I was sorely disappointed over the absence of rabid fans wielding paddles with the word ‘yaoi’ written over them. So unlike some who are abhorred by such a phenomenon, I would actually kill to experience it once. But sorry to say, even the craziest fans here in the Singapore anime community are still relatively meek as compared to the awesome stuff you get in say America. Never actually saw anything that was significant in qualifying as a reason for why we can’t have nice things but then I was pretty late upon arriving for Cosfest so there might be a chance that I had already missed those moments. So the fans and the cosplayers were pretty docile and friendly from my observations, and yeah no trees were harmed. Or maybe I was just blind.

DID SOMEONE SAY YAOI??

P-Meister was entrusted with the task of shooting the cosplayers while I ran off, just like Saturday, to begin my dungeon exploration. He has a knack in accosting the cosplaying folks but most of his photos tend to have an awkward object ruining the aesthetic feel of the shot. We decided not to use most of his shots since most of them had a dustbin, a yawning bystander or a leg just next to the cosplayers. And while I was loitering, I served as the P-Meister’s additional eyes in spotting cosplayers whom we would want to take pictures of.

The event was not just all about cosplay as there were booths for some to sell their fan art. And because the booths are arranged around the peripherals, I found it hard to navigate through those that were closer to the walls of the hall since people tend to crowd near the corners to rest.

It was not long before the event concluded, since we were late, and the winners of the Cosplay competition were revealed. And to wrap things up, a massive group Caramelldansen performance. I was amused when I saw those big swords from Bleach oscillating vertically from the midst of the dancing cosplayers on stage. Yeah so everyone was pretty excited and even some of the people from the audience joined in as well.

OH SHI

Anyway, these are some of the more presentable pictures that the P-Meister took. Not that I am complaining though.

One day… a student failed his exams…

Summary of events so far…

He went for this ‘remedial lesson’ where he gets to go into a fake edo period. Basically, by putting on some high-tech goggles, u see CG images of things… History has never been so fun before… This student is none other than… read the name on the exam paper…

Anyway… Tokidoki Rikugou(also called Toki) met another failure, who was suspended. His name is Kon Shinonome. Shinonome explains the situation about gods and mythical beasts in relation to the people there. This may not make sense at first, but it is actually the theme of the anime. Apparently, this anime brings two people who relates well to science to a world with people who relate to mythical beasts and gods.

Toki lost Shinonome and then walks on. As he carried on, he was attacked by a nue. What is a nue? [LORE: if you watched Clannad, remember Sunohara set the theme to carve the wooden block into a nue when challenging against Fuko.] Basically its a wierd looking monster that is a symbol of illness and misfortune, described as having the head of a monkey, the body of a raccoon dog, the legs of a tiger, and a snake as a tail.

Just then, the female protagonist comes in to save him. Look her hair, its part of her clothes.

She introduces herself as Kuchiha. I somehow don’t know why she has to display that belly all the time. Gets me excited… ANYWAY! BACK TO THE POINT, later episodes reveal that she has a Dog God in her and is despised by humans, being called a demon of some sort. Toki realises that he’s not alone as he is taken in by Shamon… Apparently, Shinonome also suffered the same fate. Both of them had their disabilities, Shinonome lost his right arm and Toki lost his left eye(which can see wierd things, =( but not through clothes).

Living in this realm where gods and mystical beings exist is what this story is generally about. I know i skipped a number of characters, but the P-Meister has MORE IMPORTANT parts to cover!

The purpose of the storyline?
I’m not entirely sure, but so far, I believe that the storyline is about the existence of gods and myths compared to the modern world. Modernists often believe that the actions of such superstitious practice are nothing more than ignorance. The artist is probably trying to show that this point isn’t entirely correct all the time. Also, in the modern world, we have are so intrigued by science that our beliefs are now based on science, forgetting on the religions and beliefs of the past. We have lost the connection to that world. This anime tries to explain what the people in the past could have experienced, which we would never ever find in textbooks. This anime sure contains some thought provoking events.

A bit more on Toki and Shinonome and Kuchiha

Toki has defended Kuchiha several times and showed some interest. There are hints that there might be a romance-type of relationship eventually. Toki is also popular among the other girls. In a world where acting against personal grudges can cause death, Toki has spoken up and defended Kuchiha. The advantage that Toki and Shinonome have in that world is the knowledge of science. Toki thinks he should be doing whatever he can. Shinonome on the other hand has a cynical view of his current situation.

My thoughts on the latest episode…
This episode started off explaining the heart and the body, which i believe have some impact on the purpose of the storyline(as stated above). The body is what all humans have, whilst the heart it is talking about isn’t the physical heart. Its about the spiritual kind of heart.

 Later, some hints are given that the princess being cursed may be from the gods. It may be her retribution after all. This was also described by the Dog spirit in episode 4. Other fillers are then included, such as the history of Kuchiha. Also, I reckon there’ll be something going on between her and Toki.

Anyway, the biggest part of the episode is the display of the princess. She is nothing but a dead corpse… or so i thought at first. In fact, she claims to have transferred her soul to a doll. She proves this by displaying her ‘soul’ out, proving the doll isn’t just mere ventrillo. It is then revealed that there are only 4 people who can separate this heart(spirittual, not physical) from the body.

This princess then shows her physical form, Ginshu. I don’t know if I should call her a him or her so i’ll stick with ‘she’. She’s actually neither male or female and has NOTHING IN THE GROIN region… ugh! Anyway, she was cursed by the Byakuroku to die and be reborn everyday. Further talk suggest that Toki has the power equivalent to a god… (I didn’t particularly like this part)

Anyway, the princess and the Bonten are on opposing sides and both want to use Toki’s abilities.

This is a filler-like episode. I tell myself that such things do happen. It may not be as good as I expected but may be a building block to a great storyline. There are plenty of surprises, but even the P-Meister isn’t sure how many surprises he can take before he gets bored.

My thoughts on the series
Well… I am glad all the animes this season have their own strengths. Amatsuki is one that is emotionally intense but not lacking the fight as well. So many things are happening in a short period of time, building up the background quickly… implying a pretty STRONG climax coming up. I believe there’s a lot of potential for this anime if it is done properly. The producers absolutely waste no time showing the sequence of events, yet not dulling the atmosphere. It is one of the better anime this season I believe. Lets hope Studio DEEN doesn’t screw this up.

Still, I won’t say this anime is for everyone. Its has no scientific correlation and may bore others with its fiction after a while. Also, the idea of the main char having god powers gets BORING after a while. This anime can go both ways. Like always, I do a mid term review if its worth following, so do stay tuned!

Conclusion

Amatsuki is a 13 episode long series. I don’t think it will go very far with 13 episodes from whats going on. Episode 1-4 won my heart but Episode 5 kind of quenched the build-up for the climax i was expecting. I still believe it will end up well though. Perhaps there might be a season 2. Anyway.. P-Meister signing off! Hope you enjoyed this review.