This episode is as hilarious as I thought it'd be. I'm mostly impressed with how the whole thing was edited and put together. You really have to see the climax of the exam scene where everyone else but Maka and Tsubaki going bonkers due to exam's pressure. It really brings back my memory of cramming for exam while I was in high school/university. Also props to Miyano Mamoru for making Death the Kid even more pathetic than Tamaki from Ouran High School. The way the character begs, pleads, and drives himself insane due to his OCD is just absolutely amusing. I'm also surprised that the writers decided to include the hilarious albeit creepy epilogue involving Maka and her father. I thought after the way they cut other naughty scenes from the series, they would have exculded this particular subplot as well. Thankfully that's not the case here. Although the scene is kind of hair-raising, it's also hilarious as well.
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While casting envious glances on Anime Expo ‘08 attendees, this blogger soothe herself with her regular manga routine. Well… She tried. Bah. This week in manga-land (in my manga-land, anyway): Sekirei turns out to be a big tease; Children of the Corn appears in Psyren; Hikaru rides the luv train in Ouran; [...]
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I wasn’t in CMX’s panel yesterday since I was busy at Kadokawa’s, but CMX apparently licensed only one new title: The Name of the Flower　(Hana no Namae), a shoujo manga from Hakusensha’s Lala mangabon (the same one as Ouran Host Club and Vampire Knight), by Ken Saitou.　 The story is about a girl whose parents die, [...]
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Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast Episode #79 is now online! In this podcast, I review the anime series Ouran High School Host Club.  I also go through everything we know to this point about the Geneon-Funimation deal as well as the Funimation-Sojitz-ADV ruckus. This week’s Podcast Stats: Time: 28:00 Download Size: 19.2 MB Opening theme: “Kaidoku Funou” by Jinn Second opening theme [...]
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Well, here I am waiting for the Host Club panel to start– it might be a little late, they’re not eve letting people in yet. This room is HUUUUUUUUUUGE. I’m desperately charging my laptop off to the side; at least the Internet works. I think I’m just gonna hang out here instead of up front, [...]
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Hokay, sitting in Aurora publishing, where we’ll celebrate the company’s first birthday: they announced their creation at Anime Expo last year. I’ll be scooting out of this one early to get to the Ouran panel, but here I am in the meantime! I came in early so I didn’t get a raffle ticket this time. [...]
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when you’ve got the demonic charm of ono, it’s not hard to accumulate a manharem I dunno what Aroduc is talking about. Antique Bakery was pretty awesome, even though I was watching it completely ironically. Basically, I mentally remembered scenes like the ones in Ouran where something banal would happen, but it would cut [...]
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This week, the Song of the Week goes to a very nice song sung by Kirii Daisuke. This is the character song for Morinozuka Takashi, from Ouran High School Host Club. This guy can really sing, as you will find out when you listen to his voice. It is clear, with good vocals, and the song is also simple enough to understand.As Words of Songs' Atashi has already done a very good translation for it, I will not presume to copy all his stuff here, but instead link you to what he has done for the song. Many thanks to him for doing the translation for this song.Itsumo Soba ni (Always By Your Side) can be found here if you wish to listen to it. Enjoy.
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And time flies by too swiftly for my liking. Already the month of June has passed and July is soon upon us. July has always been a much hated month for me, not the least of which it is the month of the star sign Cancer, and also because when I was still schooling, it never had a holiday during the entire month at all here.June has been a slow month for this blog. Much of the stuff done was for the blog itself, causing a drop in readership (at least, according to the number of hits per day, and I did see quite a drop in the number of unique visitors too). Not much was done outside of blog tech related stuff this month, but here is the summary of the month. Image above of Arin from Pangya thanks to DBlade.Blog UpdatesI started using blog themes only this month. It just so happened that, because I received Kuonji Shinra as a figure from the previous month, I made her the Anime Girl of the Month as well, and so it made me think, why not use Shinra-sama as a backdrop for a theme? And so I unveiled a blog theme, Shinrabanshou, for the blog for the first time. Have a look at the post here.I also finally gave a name and created "Team Blue", and later in the month, created a team blog. For local outing updates and events, as well as announcements of stuff happening within Team Blue and its bloggers and community, look there from now on.Blogrolls and links were reorganized around the middle of the month, this was around the time readership started to fall. Did most of you find that perhaps the new blogroll is harder to use and navigate by? I certainly found it easier to find out which blogs had newer posts, but I would like to find out from the general readership as well regarding the matter. I might revert back to using just simple links and only use the new Blogger's feed feature for certain sections.I also finally solved the problem of the random header. Now random header images should show up properly. I will continue to use this feature in the future.Surveys started being put up as well. These polls will continue, probably once a week. Would you like them to stick around, or do you want them gone?This blog also went past 10K hits this month, and the obligatory appreciation post is here.A new category was created for La Tendo, as I do help them post up new preorders and arrivals.Finally, Ruri made her self-introduction this month. Do stop by and say "Hi!" to her, and read up about her as she will be helping me in the future as well with the blog. Thanks, darling daughter Ruri!Song of the WeekNew section started for this monthly review, so that you know what songs were done for this month.I'm Still Here (Johnny Rzeznik)Kasumi (369 miroku)Number One (Vocal Version) by Hazel FernandesFar Away (Nickelback)Anime Girl of the MonthThe Anime Girl of the Month for June was Kuonji Shinra, did you perhaps miss her? If so, head on to the link to read up on her.Figure of the MonthThe Figure of the Month was also Shinra-sama, the only known one of her out, by Good Smile Company. It was also the first time I had an outdoors photoshoot for a figure, as well as a night shoot. If you missed her wonderful photoshoot, head on over to the post to view her gentle side.FiguresThis month's haul was a total of four figures, an image of all of them is provided below. Sadly, there is still no news of Imari Kurumi arriving, even though I have seen the figure itself in another shop.I also did a post of my preorders from this month all the way till October, and though a last figure was left out of the count, the list is pretty much complete. View it if you are so interested here.Clockwise from top left: Arin from Pangya by Solid Theater, Elwing from Shining Wind by Kotobukiya, Kureha from Shining Wind by Max Factory, and Yoko from Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann by Enterbrain Inc. AnimeNothing new here, as even though the summer anime season has started, none of the shows I actually want to watch are out yet. I continued blogging on Kaiba, though blogging on it has been slow thanks to the emphasis this month on the blog. I will of course finish watching and blogging on the series, hopefully readers who come for my write-ups on Kaiba will not be disappointed. At the end of Kaiba I will also be putting up my own review of Kaiba and the series.I also put up my summer anime watchlist, have a look if you feel like knowing what I will be keeping watch on.GamesThis section does not exist, move along sir/madam.Multimedia & MusicAside from Team Blue banners and headers, as well as blog banners, and theme banners and etc., nothing else was achieved. You can view the respective banners and headers in their respective posts, all of which were mentioned above.I also did a review for the first time ever on a movie, Kungfu Panda. Have a look if you are interested, the movie is really good.Special Features, Articles & EssaysPart 2 of the workout tetralogy has finally been completed. It took me long enough to get around to it. I apologize if anyone was keeping track. I may or may not get around to the third part next month, it depends on the month's activities and how free and motivated I am.Though it is not of a pretty nature, you might also want to read up on this post I did near the start of the month regarding my take on DC.com users back then.Two posts from my previous blog were posted this month, you may take a look at them here and here.I also wrote up something regarding my view on otaku culture, especially locally, though it may be extrapolated for a global look. Do read up on it if you are interested.EventsThe very recent Toys & Comics Convention held locally was an event that I had to cover for the month, for it was the first time such an event was held here. For my coverage of both days, go here for Day 1 and here for Day 2. For coverage of the event from other blogs as well, do take a look at the post done up for such a purpose over at Team Blue.LifeAcademic studies were started again, I mentioned it here (I know, it was linked in an earlier part). Other than that nothing much of note has occurred.July '08 PreviewMore blog tech stuff expected, but not as extensive as this month. Mainly the new theme, "Elven Beauty" will be unveiled for July. I am also expected to be putting up a few polls, and may put them near the top to garner attention.The new theme also reflects the Anime Girl and Figure of the Month, Elwing la Sylphis. Do look out for her figure photoshoot (which will be done outdoors) and her lovely elven cuteness.As regards anime, certain series I will be starting on begin airing in July. They were mentioned in the summer anime watchlist (linked above). I will not be blogging on any of them.The music playlist, as voted by the majority, will remain the Japanese playlist with a few changes to the song lineup. By request of CI, Sakura Kiss by Kawabe Chieco (from Ouran High School Host Club) will be removed.As for events, the upcoming Cosfest 2008 will likely be Team Blue's monthly outing as well, stay tuned on Team Blue's blog for updates on that. I do not have any other events planned for the month that I would want to cover.More write-ups this month are expected, including the last two blog posts from my previous blog, which will deal with the time when I thought I had diabetes, which will surely be of interest to psychology students, or social workers. I may also write up something on globalization and individuality, but that is iffy, as I no longer have the writing talent at all.I will also be blogging on Saimoe 2008, which already has started, but is still in the preliminary rounds. For coverage on those, CI is doing them, while I will only begin at the start of the actual tournament, sometime around 10-11th July. Mine will hardly be that constructive either, but you may read mine if you are so interested.I am also expected to continue working on my academic studies and rush through them, including the western history course. I do not have much time left for that one, urgh. Can any one of you actually give me motivation to do these things?Finally, I am expecting not two but five figures this month, though one of them is kindly being searched for in Japan by Misakichii in Japan when he heads over in mid-July. Two of the others are preorders that will be released near the end of the month, while two others are figures that somehow had no preorder opened for them over at La Tendo. Damn off-the-shelf prices. The figures, in no order, are Kotobukiya's Mao, Max Factory's Kotona Elegance, Kotobukiya's Suzume (from Sengoku Lance), Orchid Seed's Mizuho Kazami and Yamato's Noyamano Ringo.That sums it up for the month of July and what you can expect for it. Stay tuned for more updates from this blog, and thanks for being a reader!Elven Beauty,Panther
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This has to be one of the worst ever episode for the series when it comes to character design. My analysis back in the first episode about how the character design can easily turns ugly in the hands of lazy animators turns out to be correct. When I see an episode like this, I wonder if it's because the budget is so small that the animators refuse to labor on their craft more than necessary or if they just lose interest in what they do. It's probably hard for animators to be excited about each series that they do so I wonder at what point does the hobby turns into nothing more than a job that needs to be completed. Anyway, for some reason Ichiru sounds a lot like Zero in this episode so does this mean Miyano Mamoru voices both characters? That would be weird but kind of amusing as well since both are supposed to be twins. Ichiru sounds more like Tamaki from Ouran High School Host Club though, albeit an evil one.
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