I’ve finished Romeo X Juliet. I don’t really want to talk about the series as a whole, though. I want to talk about the Trifecture of Suckdom. Ladies and gentleman, GONZO have managed to plumb the depths of ineptitude to bring us, in episode 14, 15 and 16 of RomeJuli, quite possibly the most hideously bad [...]
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In the floating city of Neo Verona, the Capulet family ruled peacefully- until the night Lord Montague massacred them and took control of the city for himself. Unbeknownst to him, however, the surviving friends and retainers of the family take it upon themselves to rescue Capulet’s daughter Juliet and raise her in secret, all the [...]
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Ophelia kisses Juliet. Juliet: No! I don’t want to turn HARD YURI! Meanwhile, Francisco, Curio , Conrad and Tybalt are stuck outside. Francisco: It looks like we aren’t even important enough to be allowed into the final area. Tybalt: I hate to say it, but the time has come to accept our accursed roles as supporting characters. All we [...]
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Sorry for the lack of posts…I haven’t had the chance to manage the blog much lately, and I probably won’t be able to get Shana 13 done by tomorrow. These polls have also been falling behind a bit…but anyway, the new poll is up so everyone please vote! Romeo x Juliet received the most nominations [...]
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Decidedly, the word is that 2007 is not as exciting as 2006. We did not have Haruhi, we did not have Simoun, we did not have Black Lagoon. In fact, I'm going to talk about shows I didn't see in 2007 (and some that I did, but not like Haruhi, Simoun and Black Lagoon).
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A normal day at Azure Flame. It’s been a year of ups and downs, of anime gems and utter disappointments- a year when I’ve alternated between craving more and feeling utterly fed up with the continuing deluge of episodes that take no account of the fact that people might have other things to do than stay [...]
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For fun, a brief info on my 2007 purchases. Total spent is around AUD $760. The biggest slices went to figures and manga.My purchases in 2007Figures:BEAT 1/6 Alicia Florennce FigureGoodsmile 1/8 Alicia FigureFinal Fantasy Mini Trading CollectionBandai Action BasesKotobukiya Belldandy Goddess Uniform FigureManga & Books:Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 1-38Suzuka 13-17Pastel 15-17Aria 10Cross Game 7-9ARIA PS2 bookAria Navigation FileSuzuka Graduation GuidebookAria Desktop CalendarOST:Romeo x Juliet OP SingleAMG Fighting Wings OP ED SingleDropped Purchases:ARIA The Arietta OP ED SingleCrescent Love OP SingleI believe the most epensive order would be the bulk manga order at Bookcafe. The order costed HK1245 which was around AUD$182.70. I'm very pleased with both Goodsmile Alicia and Kotobukiya Belldandy Goddess figures. I was disappointed with Yesasia for numerous reasons this year. They shipped my CD stacked between manga and it cracked. I had given specific instruction on the replacement case but they ended up shipping normal CD case which is not what I wanted. The other disappointment is the lost of ARIA solidworks collection. HLJ has asked JP Post to investigate. If I didn't receive anything by Jan. 10, they'd take further action.2006 Purchases Post
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My 2007 Anime ReviewThese are my personal opinion and only on those anime that I watched. :)My Anime of the YearCode Geass, Tokimeki Memorial Only Love, Zero no Tsukaima II, La Corda D'Oro ~primo passoMy Manga of the YearSuzuka, Tsubasa Chronicles, ARIA, Prince of TennisMy Soundtrack Album of the YearTokimeki Memorial Only Love OST 1La Corda D'Oro ~primo passo OSTAMG Fighting Wings OP ED SingleKanon OSTMy Theme of the Year祈り～You Raise Me Up ~Romeo x Juliet [OP]予感~Tokimeki memorial [OP ]奇跡のかけら~Tokimeki memorial [ED]明日、夕暮れまで~ARIA Arietta [ED]愛の星~AMG Fighting Wings [OP]ハナムケのメロディー ~AMG Fighting Wings [ED]だんご大家族~Clannad [ED]I decided to rate the anime with my expectation and enjoyment, rather than the quality or the anime as a whole, which is often disputable and differ with people's interest.Enjoyment: Enjoyable: Anime which is enjoyable to watch Fair/Content: Anime which is average or content to watch Disappointed: Anime which is disappointing to watchExpectation: Above Expectation: Anime which exceed expectation or impression As Expected: Anime which match expectation or impression Below Expectation: Anime which fall short expectation or impression Exceptional: Anime worth watching and enjoyable. Terrible: Anime which is terrible. Not recommended Ah! My Goddess Fighting Wings I was so excited when AMG Fighting Wings was announced. At last, the Rind arc was animated. The two episodes featured Rind and her twin angels, the angel-eating monster, Belldandy and Blue Lance. I had hoped that the second season would deliver the arc but they didn't. I'm glad that they decide to produce this arc for the 20th anniversary because it's one of the more interesting arc in the whole series. The captivating OP and rythmic ED are fabulous. Clannad Ithought that Clannad was supposed to be a movie rather than a TV series. I do think that the series is more interesting than Kanon but it didn't motivate me to watch it every week. The first arc was a bit like Makoto arc in Kanon. Nevertheless, the animation, settings and background music are excellent. My mind is hooked to the ED, Dango....Dango... Dango... Code Geass Code Geass, the black horse of 2006 and 2007. I didn't pick up Code Geass until a few episode has lapsed. But it turned out to be a hit. I would think it deserved the fame much more than Suzumiya no Haruhi. My favourite heroine would be CC and Milly. I don't like Suzaku as he's the stereotype character. Lelouch is interesting to watch. Can't wait for the second season as the first season end with a cliff-hanger.Detective Conan Movie 11 Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure, Detective Conan 11th movie, was average in my opinion. The animation is excellent and the story is enjoying but I expect more from the movie. Most of the time, I tend to find the ending a bit weak for several of the movies. I liked the 9th movie which has twists to the ending. The 11th movie featured the Conan gang on the Island of Koumi. situated in the Pacific Ocean. The theme of the movie is the treasure of 2 female pirates, Anne Bonnie and Mary Reed. I'm anticipating the coming 12th movie in 2008, Full score of fear. The movie has theme of music and concert which captured my interest. Hope the music will be excellent! Gundam00 Gundam00, in my opinion, is just average at the moment. I dont like the heroes, if I need to choose one, I think Stratos is the best out of the four. The heroines didn't make much impression until they were featured in their casual wears which showed a lot of large fruits. The Gundam designs were average initially with Exia being my favourite because of its versatility and dynamic. I don't fancy Virtue but it was interesting be surprised with the appearance of Nadleeh. I don't like Kyrious and the pilot. is a lot more beautiful compared to sniper Gundam, Buster in the GS and Stargazer. I think the worst rest of the mechas look terrible, in particular the pink one by soma. Even a Zaku looks a lot better. Anway, I figured that there'll be more wars and politics as well as new Gundam in near future. Don't expect much but hope for the better. Ikkitousen Dragon Destiny I had not watch Ikkitousen prior to Ikkitousen Dragon Destiny. I like the concept of Three Kingdom story but it has too much violence and exposure. Nevertheless, I quite enjoyed the series, maybe because of the fighting and animation. I did find the fanservice too much, like loli in Moetan. Anyway, it was fun to watch and the battle was quite well choreographed.Kanon I like the background setting and the music very much. The story was well animated with proper development to each character even though there were Nayuki, Ayu, Shiori, Mai and Makoto. I like Shiori and Mai arc best but Makoto the least. The Nayuki arc wasn’t clear and was bit confusing when it was blend with Ayu in final few chapters. It was good that Ayu recovered from her condition and the anime has a happy ending. My favourite characters would be Kaori, seeing how she turn from cold-hearted to a caring sister. Mai would be second followed by Shiori. The only drawback was the ambience produced in the anime. I literally has no motivation to continue watching after Shiori arc, interrupted after Aunt Akiko had an accident. I managed to continue after two weeks and glad that I finished it. Overall, it’s a good anime with many excellent attributes such as consistent and substantial animation quality, well-developed story plot, appropriate ambient music and colour setting. It’s not recommended for people who cannot commit themselves to tranquility. Nevertheless, it’s a lot easier to comprehend compared to AIR. I watch AIR thrice and still think it’s too abstract to understand the whole story plot.Kimikiss Pure Rouge Kimikiss, lose the interest after a few episode. It has almost the same genre as Tokimeki Memorial but i do find Tokimeki a lot more attractive and appealing to watch. So if you liked Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love, you might like this but I find it subpar to Tokimeki. La Corda D'Oro ~primo passo Finally, an anime dedicated to musical instruments. Primo Passo has decent animation and excellent background music. I like Lili the fairy especially the seed of knowledge at the end of each series. Kahoko has been interesting and appealing heroine. The series was different from the usual harem where many girls were attracted to a guy. I don't fancy any of the heroes but the one I hated most is Yunoki. Flute was my passion but to have been potrayed in a guy like him was annoying. The series is quite enjoying and the ending was sastifactory, though it's less appealing near ending but the finale changed it.Mai Otome Zwei I didn't really anticipate much from Mai Otome Zwei but it was great. However, they should exclude the fanservice DVD and concentrate more on the story plot. The last episode was filled with too much story plot but it was interesting. The animation was excellent as usual and it's interesting to watch. Moetan Moetan was quite interesting to watch as an anime but I'd stronly prefer that the loli fanservice was removed. Though I knew that if removed, Moetan would lose its appeal but it's too much as one episode was removed from broadcasting. I like the character design especially Pastel Ink, Ah Kun and Ka Kun. My favourite character is Alice. It was suprising to see that Ka Kun was of a handsome and built guy while Dandy was the emperor. The SEED mode in episode 7 was hilarious. I think GSD has a lot of influence on other animes. Ah Kun loli liking joke was funny at times but sometimes too much. Nevertheless, he looks funny with his saliva drooling. I enjoyed watching the duel between Ah Kun and Ka Kun. The Moetan corner at the end is quite useless in my opinion. It's a funny and enjoying anime but you'd have to forgive that it's wrapped by loli fanservice. Robotwars Terrible mistake of the season. I dropped it halfway. But my cousin want to watch so I continue with it. The CG was good but the animation was terrible and storyline was crap. Even the boring Gunparade orchestra had better animation and storyline. Worst mecha anime that I have seen. It try to copy from GSD. There’s a lot of parody from GSD such as dragoon system at the end, combination, battle ship, female captain and lots more. Even the three mecha combination at the end looks terrible. The ending was terrible as well. I would throw this to the rubbish bin. Romeo X Juliet Initially I found Romeo X Juliet very interesting and intriguing. However, I started to lose interest once Romeo was sent to the mine. However, I was pleased with how the story was animated. There were many beautiful and romantic scenes of Romeo and Juliet. In addition, the song Raise me Up was so enchanting for the anime and the Iris flowers setting was also very appealing. Shining Tears X Wind I was so happy when it was announced that Shining Tears x Wind will be animated. Though not much promotion was done, most people knew about the character designs by Tony Taka. It was also good that they combined the Tears part and the Wind part. I was a bit disappointed that Kureha didn’t give any chance to Souma. But the ending of Souma to join Weissritter is unexpected but wonderful. But I couldn’t really accept the fact that Mao has attraction for Souma. Xecty did play a very important role and she was the favourite for many fans. I did find the Wind team has less characteristic than the Tears team. My favourite on this anime was not the character design but to see each soul blade appearing. Tokimeki Memorial~Only Love One of the most anticipated anime of the season for me. The animation was consistently good and background music match well with the anime. They have repetition such as the chick fight, student chasing after Riku, the three heroines yearning for Riku. I don’t like Riku, he has less characteristic even compared to Manaka from Ichigo 100% and Ichitaka from I”s. My favourite heroine is definitely Sayuri. Her character is common for a harem anime but more distinct compared to Tsukasa and Mina. Tsukasa is the average persistent and immature girl while Mina is the quiet and shy type. It was good that the anime ended with Sayuri confessing and both exchange their likings for each other but didn’t end together immediately. I was hoping for more development in other female characters such as Hiromi (The captain of the school's female volleyball team), Haruka the home room teacher (One episode was dedicated to her), Yuko the home economics teacher and Onesan the shop lady. There are a lot of redundant characters such as the belldandy-alike-purple-afro goddess, the vice-principal, the gym, literature and computer science teacher, Inukai and Riku childhood friend Yukari, and of course the baseball and track captains. My favourite character has to be Hiyokokko, the chick. It didn’t look very appealing but it has the character and style. Favourite scenes included Sayuri legends in the past, Yusuke, Itta and Dojima gang and Hiyokko fights. Least favourite Inukai and also Tsukasa. Tsubasa Chronicle OVA ~Tokyo Revelation There's only one episode in 2007 but it has gained my interest back again. I was terribly disappointed with the second season. I didn't have much expectation despite knowing that the production team wasn't similar to the second season. I was so happy when they managed to deliver "Tokyo Revelation" especially the animation of the true Syaoran. It's going to be a long wait in 2008 but it's worth the wait. Zero no Tsukaima Futatsuki no Kishi Season one was fabulous but I expected more than just 13 episodes. I found both sister underused. They was part of the promotion for second season but they didn’t play a big part especially . The scene that Saito and Louise on a boat was hilarious. Another thing I wished they have more variety in ending each episode instead of just explosion. The last episode was both touching and romantic, Saito decided to fight for Loiuse. Just the fact that he was saved by an elf with substantial asset cause another explosion ending. Anyway, season III will be airing in 2008 and the elf will make her appearance. Anticipating the coming season!My Anime Review 2006
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Could someone tell me how the hell I missed this? February 20, 2008. 「ロミオ×ジュリエット」 オリジナル・サウンドトラック Romeo x Juliet Original Soundtrack  Hitoshi Sakimoto 2008.02.20 : COCX-34784
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Gonzo… on one hand they search the borders of anime and storytelling, and work with greatly original premises… … and on the other hand, we have this; generic premises that only stand out in their mediocrity. While others may have loved it, all I saw was a dull, predictable story and annoying characters. For this series, [...]
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