Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho

[Tokyo MX official website Wikipedia MAL]

summary (ANN): Kaname Okimura, a student of Prefectoral Umineko Shougyou High ("Umisho" for short), joined the school's swimming club in order to learn how to swim, but the club is filled with weirdos, let alone teaches him swimming. Then, a sunny, happy-go-lucky girl named Amuro Ninagawa who was transferred from Okinawa joined the club. Her extraordinary underwater speed and unorthodox swimming style (plus her personal habit of nude swimming—a powerful magnet to teenage boys) surprised every club member, especially Okimura, because she reminds him of a mermaid-like creature he saw only once in his early childhood.

Genres: comedy, romance

Themes: Ecchi, Sports, Swimming

Number of Episodes: 13
Date of Airing: 2007-07-03 to 2007-09-25

Let's see.. at first I stumbled upon the manga about 2 weeks ago when I was lurking for "certain thing" at AnimeSigma irc channel, then I saw the people there mentioned something about Umisho. So on a whim, I download the manga give it a try, and surprisingly it really got me addicted over the content. Really entertaining read for me - nice theme for a sport manga, the jokes never fails to amuse me, and... fanservice :3

Done with the manga (currently at chapter 45 iirc), I started thinking that it would be nice if there is anime adaptation of such an awesome manga (yes, I highly rated the manga because it simply went along the kind of story that I like). And to my surprise, there really is. Digging on the info, I found that the anime started airing on July 2007, hence that explains why I never really heard about the anime (I started to follow anime season starting Fall 2007 btw). So I started downloading the full 13 episodes batch from Ayu fansub, and watch away.

...And finished watching the anime a week ago. I regret not knowing this show sooner, somehow. Umisho definitely is one of the best show I've ever watch, in term of entertaining value. Almost everything about this series are to my liking, from theOP Song "Dolphin Jet" by Ayane, the plot itself which never strayed much from the manga, animation which maintains the original manga arts, as well as the ED song "Splash Blue" by Ayumi Murata.

Story

First, don't believe wholeheartedly on those plot summary by ANN - although its true that she has habit of nude swimming, she only do that when swimming in the sea and when there's no people around, or only to the people she like :3

As the theme suggest, it uses swimming as it's main attraction, and you can never really escape from fanservice if we talk about swimming and swimming club at school. However, I don't really find the ecchiness to be disturbing, because most of the times they are coupled with some cracking moments that always made me laugh.

As stated earlier, the story never stray that much from the manga. It started off with the main heroine Amuro coming to the city of Umineko (a unique way to introduce herself too) from Okinawa and how she seems to remember the main character, Okimura from her old memories. The story then proceed from that point to their usual after school activities at Swimming Club, to prefectural tournament and finally, Kantou Tournament. The story can go further to into the InterHigh tournament, but I'm pretty much satisfied with how they end the anime at Kantou.
As for the content of the anime itself, most of the story covered can be found in the manga except maybe the final episode which went further than the currently scanlated chapter (ch45).


characters - ripped off MAL with a bit of addition from myself because I'm lazy to describe them

Okiura Kaname
He's a second year student, and the swimming team's manager. He had a traumatic experience involving a creature he describes as a mermaid during his childhood, and after which he has been afraid of swimming ever since. However this scenario started to change after Amuro's arrival at Umishō. Always in trouble due to Amuro's unpredictable behavior, he usually denies his growing feelings for her.


Amuro Ninagawa
She's a second year student at Umisho and came one day with a "house-raft" from Okinawa. She's a very skilled swimmer and loves it to swim nude in the ocean, what often leads to trouble. Though she only swims nude with those shes familiar with, especially Kaname. She recieved the X's on her head from her grandmother who is lost at sea.


Momoko Orizuka
Vice captain of Umisho swimming team, Momoko is one of the founders of the club together with Ikariya and Kise. She is the fastest front crawl swimmer on the team and the most serious competitor(though a bit obsessive at times).



Mirei Shizuoka
A second year, and the swimming team's backstroke and madley specialist. She is admired by the boys because of her generous measures and polite demeanor. Probably the winner in boobs competition among all Umisho girls.
Very few people know of her repressed erotic desires, and that, despite her innocent and pure appearance, she casually wears lingerie under her clothing.


Maaya Nanako
A famous model and very good swimmer at Inter high level who transferred to Umisho, so she can get to see her childhood crush: Kaname. Very self-centered and confidence with her abilities, except her chest :)
She's always have been jealous for Amuro of her swimming speed, bigger boobs, and affection for Kaname.


Masa Ikariya
The captain of the Umisho swimming team. He's a muscle-bound third year student who's known for his unhealthy obsession with shaving his (and others') body parts. He can be seen at both practice and tournaments in speedos, spouting enthusiastic nonsense and being generally oblivious.

Animation/Music

Eh, I don't expect this kind of anime to have bombastic animation like the CG's in Last Exile or the beautiful settings of Someday Dreamers. As long as the art concept sticks with the original manga arts, and the animation looks appealing, then it's fine. And Umisho did just that. Simple animation, easy to the eyes. Musics are pretty much ordinary but they do know what bgm fit best for a scene, especially when it deals with the actual swimming matches. The OP theme was sang by Ayane - coincidentally one of my favorite jpop singer, and this song too is one of my favorite song from her. As for the ED theme, at first I didn't give much attention to the song itself until the very last episode, where the song is used perfectly to fit the mood of the ending.

Seiyuu - good choice of voice acting for most characters imo, except maybe for Shizuoka. I was hoping her voice to be more like Mamiko Noto to be honest :))

overall Umisho has been a very entertaining watch for me, worth watching for the laugh (my MAL score is 10/10 zomg). Recommended for people who looks for humor and are immune to fanservices :3

tag v6

yet another tag, from himesama

01. rules : copypaste the list and highlights the one that has something to do with you.

- i miss somebody right now.
- i dont watch tv these days.
- i own lots of books.
- i wear glasses or contact lenses.
- i love to play video games.
- i've tried marijuana.
- i have been in a threesome.
- i have been the psycho-ex in a past relationship.
- i believe honesty is usually the best policy.
- i curse sometimes.
- i have changed a lot mentally over the last year.
- i carry my knife / razor everywhere with me.
- i'm totally smart.
- i've broken someone's bones.
- i'm paranoid sometimes.
- i would get plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free of cost, and scar-free.
- i need money right now.
- i love sushi.
- i talk really, really fast.
- i have long hair.
- i have lost money in las vegas.
- i have at least one sibling.
- i have worn fake hair / fingernails / eyelashes in the past.
- i couldn't survive without caller I.D
- i like the way i look.
- i am usually pessimistic.
- i have a lot of mood swings.
- i have a hidden talent.
- i'm always hyper no matter how much sugar i have.
- i have a lot of friends.
- i am currently single.
- i have pecked someone of the same sex.
- i enjoy talking on the phone.
- i practically live in sweatpants or pj pants.
- i love to shop.
- i enjoy window shopping.
- i would rather shop then eat.
- i don't hate anyone. i dislike them.
- i'm completely embarrassed to be seen with my mother.
- i have a cell phone.
- i believe in god.
- i watch mtv on a daily basis.
- i have passed out drunk in the past 6 months.
- i've rejected someone before.
- i have no idea what i want to do for the rest of my life.
- i want to have children in the future.
- i have changed a diaper before.
- i've called the cops on a friend before.
- i'm not allergic to anything.
- i have a lot to learn.
- i have been with someone at least 10 years older or younger.
- i am shy around the opposite sex.
- i have tried alcohol before.
- i have made a move on a friend's significant other or crush in the past.
- i own the south park movie.
- i would die for my best friends.
- i think that pizza hut has the best pizza.
- i have used my sexuality to advance my career.
- i love michael jackson, scandals and all.
- halloween is awesome because you get free candy.
- i watch spongebob squarepants and i like it.
- i have dated a close friends's ex.
- i am happy at this moment !!
- i'm obsessed with guys
- i study for tests most of the time.
- i tie my shoelaces differently from anyone i've ever met.
- i can work on a car.
- i love my job.
- i am comfortable with who i am right now.
- i have more than just my ears pierced.
- i walk barefoot wherever i can.
- i have jumped off a bridge.
- i love sea turtles.
- i spend ridiculous money on makeup.
- i plan on achieving a major goal / dream.
- i'm proficient in a musical instrument.
- i worked at mcdonald's restaurant.
- i hate office jobs.
- i love sci-fi movies.
- i think water rules.
- i went college out of state or country.
- i like sausage.
- i love kisses.
- i fall for the worst people.
- i adore bright colours.
- i can't live without black eyeliner.
- i don't know why the hell i just did this stupid thing.
- i usually like covers better than originals.
- i can pick up things with my toes.
- i can't whistle.
- i can move my tongue in waves, much like a snakes slither.
- i have ridden / owned a horse.
- i still have every journal i've ever written in.
- i can't stick to a diet.
- i talk in my sleep.
- i try to forget things by drowning them out with loads of distractions.
- climbing trees is a brilliant past-time.
- i have jazz in my blood.
- i wear a toe ring.
- i have a tattoo.
- i can't stand at LEAST one person that i work with.
- i am a caffeine junkie.
- i have been to over 15 conventions.
- i will collect anything, and the more nonsesical, the better.
- i'm an artist.
- i only clean my room when necessary.
- i like a person of the same sex.
- i love being happy.
- i am an adrenaline junkie.


02. tag who ?
you

The Gate of Seraphim [part 1]

After like a month after finishing Infinite Undiscovery, I decided to take a challenge by speedrunning Seraphic Gate (well, not even a challenge in truth, just do it for the lulz) from start to finish without a single save. And as promised earlier, this is the Seraphic Gate exclusive, although what I'm going to write are merely ramblings about the dungeons and enemies encountered.

Pre-word to SG, as cited in the game:

"Welcome to the Seraphic Gate!

The creatures lurking within these halls are the foulest and fiercest you have
ever known. Balls of steel are required. ...But titanium is recommended.

To help match the power of your foes, item creation and enchantment has been
enhanced. There is also powerful equipment awaiting you on each floor. Take
advantage of it, and good luck reaching the bottom"

Yeah, balls of steel are required :P

So, a bit of introduction to Seraphic Gate. Anyone who played Valkyrie Profile (PS1), Valkyrie Profile Lenneth (PSP) or Valkyrie Profile Silmeria will be very familiar with this name. A bonus dungeon where "the" most powerful monsters and bosses resides, and only those with exceptionally awesome training can overcome the hurdles. Being a product from Tri-Ace, I obviously expect them to provide some sort of extra dungeon and bosses cameos, but never really expect that they will come in the form of Seraphic Gate (SG).

While in VP and VP2, Seraphic Gate has their own unique dungeon in which player will advance from floor to floor after completing certain riddles or fights, the SG in Infinite Undiscovery is quite different, in term of the setting used. SG in IU is made up of various dungeons/towns/field from the game itself, which means that each floor will be vastly different than the next one. But there's a catch: there is no aid of map at all for the entire SG. So you really need to rely on your animal instinct in order to go through some of the floor, especially Oradian Dunes and Cobasna Timberland because without the sense of direction, you will easily get lost and get stuck in those area for eternity. Gah, exaggerating, I know.
A good thing is that halfway through SG, there is a save point (unlike the SG in VP1 and VP2 which has NONE) and a portal which allows you to go back to the world.(Kalton). Although, there is no shortcut to go back to that save point, you really have to go all the way back from floor 1.

ok, back to the actual purpose of this entry. I decided to speedrun SG jfrom floor 1 to floor 13 (final floor) ust to test how will I fare with my current characters. I admit that my characters are uberly overlevelled, with godly equipment, and playing in Normal mode (have yet to play Hard, which I just unlock a few weeks ago by beating the game) made this even more easiler to accomplish, but I don't have any plan to play this game in Hard/Infinity mode within this next month.

characters in my party before going to speedrun SG the 2nd time:

Capell lvl 224

hp/mp - 82648 / 6069

Equipment: Azureal Blade, Hydra Armor, Feet of Saruleus, Buffalo Wristband and Fox Tail

Aya lvl 210

hp/mp - 45372 / 7869

Equipment: Avinir bow, Sabris Garb, Phoenix Feather Hood, Phoenix Feather Boots, Sabris Wristband and Lunar Necklace

Sigmund lvl 199

hp/mp - 77709 / 5931

Equipment: Balmung, Karathos Suit, Karathos Helmet, Eclipe Leggings, 2x Fox Tails

Edward lvl 193

hp/mp - 58396 / 4415

Equipment: Karathos Blade, Hydra Armor, Crystalline Headgear, Crystalline Greaves, 2 x Fox Tails

*I'm a nab in taking pictures, and can't find a decent images from the internet.

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Floor 1: Prison Stairs

Remember this place? The place when Capell and Aya escape from that big fat red rapist early in the game after they encountered each other at the prison. And he is back again to hunt you. As the first SG dungeon, it was pretty straightforward down the stairs, beating all enemies until meeting the boss (Vembert). Even when I meet him the first time going to SG at low level, he is pretty much a piece of shit. Spamming Grind Valesti works well against him (and many other bosses :))

Floor 2: Oradian Dunes

This place gives me the nightmare the first time I entered this area. No map to aid me, I was left stranded in this area for awhile because I don't know exactly where to go - where's north and where's south? Good thing there is some sort of easy markings that can be use for guidance - the arcs that lead to Sapran, which by going around leads to a portal to the 4th floor, Vesplume Tower Roof; while going directly behind the portal of where we came from Floor 1 (Prison) leads to another portal to floor 3, Luce Plain. And, no boss in this area, but fighting against those flying monsters are kinda irritating. Levantine Slash works really well against them.

Floor 3: Luce Plain

Upon entering this area, you will be greeted by a motherdragon (wyvern)...is big! His fire attacks really hurt, but that's about it. Again, I just Grin Valesti him to death :) Luckily this floor uses the smaller northern area of Luce Plain rather than the larger southern area. There's only 1 other portal in this floor, and that leads to the 5th floor, Bihar Mine.
ps: this is the ONLY place to farm Dragon Farm (from the snakes), a very essential material to make Genius Quills - required to make Memoirs and learn new skills/magics.

Floor 4: Vesplume Tower Roof

Okay, this is the 4th floor, connected directly from floor 2. This is the place where "that" character vanished by the end of disc 1, and he returned here as the secret boss. You need to fight him, ALONE to go pass this rather small area. Fret not, Grin Valesti always do the trick. Upon beating him, he rejoins the party...as lvl 35 characters. wtf..

Youtube video representation of the fight, in Infinity Mode by swillo. Really good fight, with him parrying 90% of the boss's attack and counter with Marching Boots-Grin Valesti :D

Floor 5: Bihar Mine

No comment. We're up against a bunch of...dwarf thief? Piece of cake. No bosses in this area too, and the dungeon itself is not that hard to get lost. Going up the stairs, by the end of the area there's 2 options to take - the portal inside the room that leads to Port Zala (floor 6) and subsequently Zala Coast (floor 7), and the portal at the entrance of the Mine that leads to Cobasna Timberland, and continue the SG further.

Floor 6&7: Port Zala and Zala Coast

These 2 stages were next to each other, with Zala Coast being a dead end so we have to return back to Bihar Mine in order to progress through the SG. No boss at Port Zala but groups of Leonid dogs and flying fishes, but we're up against those monster with tentacles in Zala Coast. Prepare!

....

I guess this is the end of part 1. The rest will be covered later

Tag v5

3 tags today, 2 of which from the same set.


nevertheless, here it is. First one, from shin and kidichi

rules:
who've been selected need to write 10 things about the people who has tag yer...

in my eyes, shinwa is:

- Man Utd fan
- harem maniac
- anime fan
- eroge fan
- manga fan
- erm..engineering student I think
- I think he's 1 year older than me, so he is my senpai
- dunno who is his real waifu. Tsukiumi? Yami?
- play futsal more than futbal?
- from Johor?


in my eyes, kidichi is:

- from Batu Pahat, iirc
- close to niwa
- and kaizer too
- anime fan
- he like moe stuff too!
- Tsukasa is his waifu?
- duelist. I mean, Yu-gi-oh fan
- several years younger than me
- taking PMR this year?
- still active in gforum despite having big exam this year


people to tag:

hm..if only I can re-tag people who have tagged me :3 Can?

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2nd set, from hime-sama

rules : go to urbandictionary.com and type in your answers to the following questions. post the first definition it gives you. tag 3 people.

01. your name : seraph

1. The highest order of the hierarchy of angels. They are said to be the caretakers of God's throne. pictured to have 6 wings, or 3 sets of 2 wings 2. The guardian of the Oracle in the Matrix Trilogy. He is refered to as "Wingless" and he states that his job is to "protect that which matters most".

1. oh wow SIX wings?! 2. Dude, did you just see Seraph own that guy?

02. your age : 21

The magical age where it is legally ok to get incredibly drunk. At this time, a young adult spends most of his free time consuming vast amounts of alcohol in a variety of forms, saying that they're "making up for lost years."

03. one of your friend : tank

Noun: A player-character, typically in a MMORPG, that is able to occupy an agressor and take the brunt of the aggressor's attacks while the other players deal damage, heal, or perform some other action. The "tank" can survive longer while taking damage than the other characters.

1.V. Do you think you can tank this mob for us?

04. what should you be doing ? : marathon

The greatest game ever.

Marathon is such an awesome game.

05. favorite color : red

1) a communist 2) CCC tablet (Coricidin, OTC anti-tussive medicine)

1) "You reds!" 2) "He passed out on 48 reds (!)"

06. birthplace : bp

Black People as in African Americans

Look at those BP in their throwback jerseys.

07. month of your birth : march

Month in which creative, layed-back, dreamy, cool people were born.

She was born in march so she is creative, layed-back, dreamy and cool.

08. last person you talked to : uncle at subway

a place that makes awesome subs but won't help u lose wieght as well as they say.
subway is one of the best places to eat i know of.

09. tag 3 ppl

-rageburn
-kidichi
-*insert someone*

FInal year...finally =.=

At last...enrollment success!
Time to get a bit more serious this year I guess..
But my weekly schedule made me want to cry...Only 2 subjects are needed for this final year but the schedule never really feel like I'm enrolling in just 2 subjects. Three 5-hours practicals in a week zomgbbqwtf @.@

[Dota] Defying All Odds

I'm bored...nobody's hosting a game at Garena right now at 4am, so I though I'd make a post here. Totallnewbie made yet another awesome video (in collaboration with another good dota video maker Sogovegeta). Although it is fairly short, every scenes involved are very tense and made me drop my jaw, unable to express the level of awesomeness. On top of that, the use of orchestra music really fit the mood of the scenes.



some of the highlights:
0:10 - awesomeness from the start. Pugna is chased by Tinker and Medusa, was purged and Lasered. Another nuke and he's surely dead. Comes Tinker's Rocket, and he Decrepefied just in time to nullify it (note although Rocket is magical damage, it does not work on decrepefied unit), then immediately TP away. Then Chain Lightning from Medusa (which was amplified), luckily Pugna barely survived. What a luck.

0:35 - Razor+Lion against a bunch of scourge (Axe, Sniper, Techies and Magnataur) It was clear that Razor had radiance and o killing mode. But the highlight here is that Lion, who hexed and kill Axe, Cycloned Sniper and hex again (from Guinsoo I presume) and proceed to kill him with Impale. He have the HP just enough to survive Magnataur's Shockwave (wow) but never really feel like retreating. Then come Techies with Skadi, but thanks to Lion's disable, they manage to kill both Techies and magnus.

1:34 - Another nice scene. Easy kill for Juggernaut on Zeus with his Blade Fury, but right after that he was Ruptured by Bloodseeker. Unable to run, he has no choice but to fight and at the very last duration of the Rupture, he flee, surviving with less than 20 hp. But that's not it. While running (with BS still chasing), he use bottle to replenish his hp/mana and in that instant, quickly Omnislashed BS to death. Even more impressive is the fact that he used Omnislash just 0.00001 ms before the revived Zeus use his Ulti, hence he escaped death. Again, what a luck.

2:03 - as usual, his mindgame with Bristleback. It goes as u see it, taking risk at low hp and still manage to kill the opponent (Luna and Juggernaut). And yet again, luck played a factor in this when he survived the Zeus Ulti in the end of the scene.

2:57 - my favorite scene in this video. Just can't describe how awesome this video is. Antimage fought against Bloodseeker+Naix near Scourge tower, and look at the highlighted status: Rupture, Open Wound and Bloodrage. I would give up for sure if I was that antimage. It's almost impossible to escape death. Yet, he still try to run knowing Rupture will damage him.
Then miracle happens - Rhasta double disabled Naix and BS just when a single more attack would kill AM. With Bloodrage duration over, AM blinked away. Now it goes 2v2, so it's logical for BS to chase after AM, leaving the low-hp Rhasta to Naix. Rhasta was Open Wounded and just need a little more mana for Hex, unfortunately he isn't lucky enough and dead. AM then proceed to kill BS and Naix, with the help of creeps, and survived with the hp as you see it. Really tense moments :D

Umineko no Naku Koro ni compilation

Title: Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Artist: Shikata Akiko
Release date: 29th August 2008

tracklist:

1. 復闊の日 ~Prologo~ / Fukkatsu no Hi ~Prologo~
2. うみねこのなく頃に / Umineko no Naku Koro ni
3. 金色の嘲笑 ~麗しの晩餐~ / Kiniro no Chousou ~Uruwashii no Bansan~
4. 片恋 / Katakoi
5. 黒のリリアナ ~メランコリア~ / Kuro no Liliana ~Melancholia~
6. うみねこのなく頃に - Alternative Instrumental Suites - / Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Alternative Instrumental Suites -

Download link: [mediafire]

......................

Umineko no Naku Koro ni C75 Soundtracks

Title: Sound of the Goldenwitch
artist: cT-Luck Ganriki
site: http://www.circletempo.net/SOTG/

tracklist:

01. Prologue
02. サソリのノウズイ
03. 胡散の香り
04. ロウソクたちが踊る
05. オトナノノミモノ
06. 魔女の頬杖
07. 白日夢の果て
08. キゲイト
09. HIBUTA
10. 木馬の頃
11. Happy Maria!
12. オルガン小曲第６億番ハ短調
13. オトコマン
14. 金色の嘲笑
15. サソリのハラワタ
16. ヨルーミ
17. あの日にふれたくて
18. 600 million ruins

download link: [mediafire part 1]/[mediafire part 2]





Title: Active Pain
Artist: sunny, cap, xaki (?)
site: http://www.roundbooster.com/

tracklist:

　1. ACTIVE PAIN
　2. CORE BLUE
　3. SHELTERING SKY
　4. ACTIVE PAIN(alternative ver.)
　5. ACTIVE PAIN(piano ver.)
　6. ACTIVE PAIN(without vocal)
　7. CORE BLUE(without vocal)
　8. SHELTERING SKY(without vocal)
　9. ACTIVE PAIN(EDsize)

download link: [mediafire]

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For the upcoming Umineko no Naku Koro ni. Certainly one of the future show I'm waiting for.

うみねこのなく頃に (Umineko no Naku Koro ni) is the OP song for the show, which sounds really good to me because, don't know.. something about the melody of this song intrigued me. Nevertheless I don't quite remember when I got that album, just found it cramped inside my hard disc when I tidying things up.

Active Pain, meanwhile is the ED song for the show. The torrent for this single, together with Sound of the Golden Witch were released yesterday at Toshokan, kudos to the uploader for this nice upload :D

edit: all links were dead, the new reuploaded singles/albums and other Umineko sound collections can be found here:
Umineko Collection part 3

Tag V4

Didn't realize that mana-dono has tag me with this one :3


01. i love..
boobs

02. right now i want…
to complete my final year enrolment, which has been delayed for sevral days because of class clash u_u

03. i feel like…
marathoning some animu, but I always feel there's something more important to do

04. i hate it when…
My download speed is throttled D:

05. i fear…
Pitch dark. no, seriously

06. i’m lonely without…
my persocom

07. i need…
some sleep right now

08. today i...
play games as usual

09. tomorrow i…
like today

10. i just…
a human

11. i want to meet…
RL horo

12. i love it when…
I beat a particular game to a total completion.

14. i’m afraid of…
losing what I've worked hard for

15. i’m listening to…
Currently Luca Turilli and Yousei Teikoku

17. i wish i was in…
North pole. Summer in Aussie is friggin hot

18. i want to get…
a PS3 and a HDTV

19. i can…
stand being alone at home for 3 months

20. i can’t…
stand being alone without internet

21. i have…
cheezeburger

24. i haven’t…
finished The Last Remnant yet

25. i’m nervous to…
people I'm not familiar with

26. my parent think i’m…
their son :D

27. i think…
Square Enix has been crappy with their games as of lately

28. i’m happy when…
I achieve what I want to achieve

29. i’m sad when…
my pc crash, or my 360 has RROD

30. i like eating…
home made cooking or anything delicious

31. i hate eating…
anything I feel unusual than normal food

32. i love watching…
animu

33. i love listening to…
symphonic metal/gothic

34. I like playing…
dota

35. TAG WHO? =
anon
or anyone who want to do it

Kurokami ED & Insert Song Album - Irodori no Nai Sekai [Yousei Teikoku]

Title: Kurokami ED & Insert Song Album - Irodori no Nai Sekai
Artist: Yousei Teikoku
Street Release Date: January 14, 2009

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Tracklist:

1. Irodori no Nai Sekai
2. Destrudo
3. Valtica
4. Tooi Maboroshi
5. Alte Burg
6. Irodori no Nai Sekai (instrumental)

direct download: [megaupload]/[mediafire]

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fcuk yeah another Nipponsei release for Yousei Teikoku! :D
I love most of their songs this time, better than their previous singles Weiβ Flugel and Hades the Bloody Rage. Irodori no Nai Sekai is the ending theme of Kurokami the Animation, one of the Winter series in my watching list.

Tagged v3

from the harem king, this time :3
Well, since I still have half an hour before the start of "something I must watch", I guess I'll do this quickly :3

1. 5 top website you always go to?

- Skysports
- TokyoToshokan
- Wikipedia
- MeetYourMakers
- 4chan (recently not going anymore)

2. 5 top forum you always go to?

- Gforum
- WatermarkBrigade
- Dota Allstars
- Hongfire
- Gamefaqs board

3. 5 people who you’re going to Tag

- manamana
- kidichi
- deady
- shax
- anyone want to volunteer?

[PC] Tears to Tiara

The English patch is released at the very end of 2008 by Darkkodango. Thinking I've finished playing most of the games I wanted to play (Tales of Vesperia, Persona 4 and Infinite Undiscovery), I decided to try this game and start downloading the game + full English patch. Hence I spend a couple of days afterward, enjoying Tears of Tiara.

Tears to Tiara PC official website

Go go wiki :))

Tears to Tiara (ティアーズ トゥ ティアラ, Tiāzu tu Tiara?) is a Japanese adult tactical role-playing game developed by Leaf and originally released for the PC on April 28, 2005 in Japan. It was followed by an all-ages version released for the PlayStation 3 on July 17, 2008 in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The PS3 release, entitled Tears to Tiara: Kakan no Daichi (ティアーズ トゥ ティアラ 花冠の大地, Tiāzu tu Tiara: Kakan no Daichi?), contained several enhancements and additional scenarios. An anime adaption being produced by White Fox will be aired in Spring 2009 incorporating the additional scenario and characters in the PlayStation 3 release.

Yes, as stated above, this eroge is developed by Leaf, the same company that produce the epic Utawarerumono eroge some times ago. This probably is one of the reason that drive me to try this game, hoping that the game would be as much enjoyable as Utawa.


Gameplay

Seems like Leaf allocate a lot of time on the gameplay this time. And the gameplay is indeed good for an eroge, much better than Utawa imo. Basically it is a combination of turn-based and real time combat, where units in battle are free to roam the battlefield to fight any enemies. You can manually give command to the characters whether to attack a particular enemies, use skills or magic, moving to certain areas or just merely stand still doing nothing.

Alternatively, you can also just set all characters in Auto mode, where the units will act depending on the Auto command given. "Full Attack" command cause the units to engage any foes closest to them, with the exception of healers (Riannon). "Full Heal" mode, as the name implies, will prioritize healing, except those with no healing skill (Arthur and Morgan for example)

The way experience is gained in battle is kinda sux though (albeit its no different than Utawa). In order to get experience, we have no option but to attack, use skill or magic. And it uses dynamic experience distribution too, meaning the experience you gained depend fully on the level difference between you and the enemies. So the stronger you are, the lesser experience you get. Nice for mercenary training though (although TBH I don't use any but 1 archer in the whole game so far). Good thing at late game, the enemies will get stronger as you gain level, so reaching max level of 99 is not that difficult.
And one more thing, unlike Utawa PC, this game provide times for us to train our character on the field, rather than leveling up solely on missions.

Overall the battle system is rather far too easy in 'Normal" mode, which is why some people suggest to play on "Impossible" mode. I kinda agree too, because in normal mode you can just set the battle in Auto mode, sit back and let your units slain the enemies.

battle sample:


Story

An important part of an eroge, undoubtedly. IMO, the story is nowhere near the epicness of Utawa, but still entertaining nonetheless. In a middle-age world, the story was set in motion when the Devil King, Arawn was resurrected from his 1000 years of slumber by a greedy Imperial mage with a girl named Riannon is set to be sacrificed for that purpose. Arawn however retaliate those who revived him and instead saved Riannon, who at that time also had her brother, Arthur came for the same purpose. And the plot continued, with Arawn eventually named as the leader of Arthur's tribe, Gael, lead the tribe from running from the chase of the Holy Empire, and formed their own nations in their motherland.
Nevertheless the plot might be different in the PS3 version because I noticed a character I never recognized while playing hte PC version.

The art is okay, although they're not as appealing as the improved PS3 version. The story is pretty much linear with no branch, so there is basically no multiple endings in this game. The ero-scenes are normal, just the type that you would expect from Leaf. You would think Arawn as some sort of pedo because he really like to screw up with the lolis most of the time n the game. I mean, more than half of the ero-scenes are about him and them lolis. Quoting some people on message boards; " thought it was REALLY funny how he was screwing everyone except his first wife for the majority of the game." And yeah, it really is true :3

Dota Allstars 6.58

My day is full of awesomeness today - man utd empathic win against Chelsea yesterday, then early this morning the new version I've long awaited is finally released - Dota Allstars v6.58

same place as usual - getdota is the place to get the map.
same place as usual - getdota for detailed changelog.

my Warcraft 3 is still unstable, so I can't really enjoy playing a full length game. But I still manage to play some games today and test the new map. My comment, as usual:

-I notice that Icefrog has properly congratulate EHOME, MYM, TPL and StarsBoba at the loading screen for their recent competitive game victories. EHOME won MGC and SMM, TPL won F4F#5, SB won ADC season 2 and MYM won Dreamhack. Too bad no Rush3D for ASUS, or Zenith for ESWC (old).

-Spectre is properly nerfed. IMO there's 2 things that made her imbalance and hence continued to be banned in games - the old Dispersion and haunt. Dispersion has already been nerfed some versions ago, yet Haunted still remain untouched. Now, Haunt no longer continue chasing their target after Reality is used, which is a good thing.

-The new Storm Spirit. Nice concept overall, at least he is no longer a dps-int heroes which I find fairly useless. His ulti is awesome, now he have a pseudo-blink with his Ulti, on top of that, it has no cooldown and unlimited range, depending on his amount of mana. Too bad that skill eat a shitload of mana, I try using it with him having more than 3000 mana, yet only able to travel about half a map. But imo traveling long distance is not the true purpose of this skill nevertheless.
His other skill is okay. Overload iss till passive, but rather than depending on cumulative attacks, now it depends on the spells that he cast to trigger the mini purge. The way I see it, his Remnant is basically works like razor's ult. And his second skill.. no comment. Drag the enemies, and slow urself for 3 sec?

-New Undying. I'm being neutral. Now he is a proper str hero, and it seems like he still remains as a push/antipush machine, especially with his Tombstone. Yes the zombie is friggin weak (30hp wtf) but the stacked slow, plus Bloodlust when creep/enemies are below certain hp are no joke. Laning against him won't be easy too. Imagine your strength being continually absorbed by his Decay D:
His ult is..well..powerful golem is powerful.

-Treant can now cast Living Armor on buildings/towers. Wow, seriously, this is a WTF matter. He will become one of the main component of Turtling Strat. Long ago Tower Regen was removed because Icefrog want to shorten the length of the game. Now Treant can easily provide the regen that towers totally lack, and pushing will be hard with Treant on the opponent team.

-Meepo was nerfed... before this he is one of the better counter to BKB/Naix because of his net. But now that Earthbind no longer works against magic immune unit, his viability is somewhat weakened. Furthermore, Poof damage has also been reduced. He lost 40 x 4 x 2 = 320 potential damage (although this is extremely unlikely to be executed) because of this.

-Rikimaru is nerfed a bit. I like this change. Backstab is no longer magical damage, means a bit of armor helps going against him. Smokescreen ministun is removed, meaning he can no longer stop people from TP-ing away from battle. Well I hate playing against SA anyway :3

Other heroes change: Drow's extra ⑨ agi at level 16 from Marksmanship - nice. Bloodseeker's buffed starting strength - this helps his laning phase greatly. Pudge's Flesh Heap is buffed - nice. Doom's various buff, especially Ulti - hopefully this helps him to break into competitive game. Viper's buffed ulti - now it's spammable with that short cooldown. Wow, he gonna rape more now. Keeper of the Light's nerfed Mana Leak - something that should be done long ago. Kunkka's Ship MS bonus nerf - rightly done, but reducing from 30% to 10% looks a bit too much.

-new Blademail - Cool, nuff said. At least his item no longer has the "rubbish" status with this change. 100% damage returned as magical damage - meaning a level 3 Laguna will normally be returned with roughly 500 damage to Lina :D

-new Cranium basher - 25% chance to stun is very nice, although the 2 sec cooldown means Permabash is not possible anymore. Sadly it no longer stack with Void, Spiritbreaker, Slardar etc.

-Illussion Rune now has 2 images. Really good. Worth taking for scouting the jungle etc.

seraph's top 5 Fall anime series

At first I planned to make it top 10 because the sheer amount of Fall series that I watch, but considering how lazy I am at the moment, I guess top 5 is enough. So yeah, this is my top 5 fall series for anime that runs for 12/13 episodes.


05. Akane Iro ni Somaru Saka

MAL/official

This series actually tied with Kurozuka, Kyou no Go no Ni and Kemeko Deluxe in my list for 5th spot, but eventually I pick Akane Iro to be on the list because...well just randomly pick this I guess. I would surely sort them properly if this is a top 10 rank, but whatever.
Pros: nice art, fully loaded with delicious seiyuu, nice plot development (for the first half of the anime ONLY). Kugimiya as main cast, how can I resist? I especially like how Jun and Yuuhi always arguing each other, although sometimes Jun's stupidity does get on my nerve.
Cons: Friggin terrible ending. If it's not because of the previous factors (seiyuus and the early plot), this would instantly drop to my worst Fall series. I mean, there are many options in the eroge that can be picked as ending, but they go for the route I hate the most.


04. Chaos; Head

MAL/official

No problem sorting this in 4th spot.
Pros: Nice theme and setting, albeit is filled with generic harem character design. Some mind twisting theorycraft, but overall they are not utterly illogical. I like the BGM used in some of the fights especially the one near the end. Good character development for main hero Takumi, from a detestable hikikomori to a brave warrior.
Cons: I expect more psycho mindrape like Higurashi, unfortunately it played little part in the overall story. And just like the theorycraft about all those delusions make this a good anime, it also can be confusing especially if we don't pay attention properly on what Sena/Ayase/whoever had to explain.



03. Kannagi

MAL/official

Pros: The humor really hurt my stomach because of non-stop laughing. This could easily be my number 1 Fall series, but because of the inconsistency of the humor, plus some other mood-spoiling scenes take away a bit of my liking to Kannagi. But overall this is still one of the Fall series that I enjoyed the most, coming from ex-Lucky Star staff. And have a fairly good ending too.
Cons: As stated above, they failed to maintain the consistency of humor throughout the episode, let alone series. Episode 6 for example is one of the most hilarious Kannagi episode, but was terribly spoiled by Jin's reaction. In other episode, they try to push some jokes into the episode while its clear that the overall mood of the episode won't allow me to laugh.


02. Ef A Tale of Melodies

MAL/official

Pros: It's SHAFT again. High expectation mounted because people have seen how epic Ef: A Tale of Memories is. And yet again, SHAFT delivers what they are supposed to. They still maintained the uniqueness that brought famous to Ef Memo. The art style remains the same, and still follows the tradition of mind raping here and there. And of course, a good series should be concluded with a good ending :)
Cons: Many aspect of Ef Melo, however are inferior to Ef Memo imo. The epicness of the OP song by ELISA (ebullient future) is inferior to Ef Melo OP (Euphoric field). So does the mindrape and romance, which I like Chihiro/Renji and Hiro/Miya arc better than the one in Ef Memo. Nevertheless it is merely my personal preference.


01. Ga Rei Zero

MAL/official

The WINNER :D
To be honest I never expect Ga Rei Zero to be my top Fall series when it first came out. It starts with a confusing plot, seeing how we were fooled by the first 2 episodes when all they focused, from the anime to the official sites, are the characters in the squad only for them to find their end very quickly, although they still show the gist of the main evil, the white haired kid (who I forgot) as well as Yomi from the manga. Then the plot becomes clear - it is the prequel of Ga Rei manga, and it basically tells everything that happened before the event in the manga, like how the main evil in the manga [spoiler] become how she currently is in the manga, along with Kagura's past. Starting from how Yomi meet Kagura and how they grew closer to each other like real sisters, to the epic tragedy that leads to the event in the manga. From episode 3 to 7, the plot went normally with everyone on their monster extermination mission, with some humors and romance filled the spot whenever necessary. The real epicness, however comes in episode 8 onward, when the plot reach its climax. Sadness, rage, anger, misery, tense moments all jumbled up together, giving me a great impact. On top of that, there is also a song from Yousei Teikoku (my fav band) used in episode 8. Greatness.
Pros: Great OP and ED song, great BGM, great battle, great plot that fits my taste.
Cons: No idea...maybe the lack of male lead character perhaps? But I don't really care about that :3 And one more thing, some things in the animu might be enjoyed only when we've read the manga. And for me, I've read the manga a long, long time ago before the anime was announced and stopped at around chapter 10. Hence I have forgotten almost all detailed of the manga (iwahata, the scene when Yomi was strucked and injured, the ending of the anime etc), but nevertheless I stull enjoyed the anime veru much.

That's it. Others that I don't have the time to comments are Yozekura Quartet (average), Shikabane Hime Aka (seiyuu still failed me till the end), Kemeko Deluxe (crazy but nice), Kyou no Go no Ni (still relaxing), Kurozuka (dark and bloody throughout), and Rosario Vampire Capu 2 (failed, only a glimpse of Tsukune's vampire).

next: my top 10 2008 anime. Hm...I wonder how many days will it take until I can write my next entry :3

[xbox360] Infinite Undiscovery

Took a bit of time before I can muster some efforts to begin writing this review. Whether because I'm a lazy bastard in this festive season or just because I got a handful of irl stuff to handle, it does not matter I suppose. Anyway, it has been about a week since I finished playing the main story Infinite Undiscovery (IU), and about 2 days since I cleared the extra dungeon that comes after beating the game, Seraphic Gate. Sounds familiar? Valkyrie Profile players surely know of this.

[Infinite Undiscovery in Wikipedia]

Again, just like Tales of Vesperia, this is the extension of my previous quick review, going a bit of detail on my impression of this game after fully exploring every depth of what the game has to offer.

Story -

This is the tale of a world and its moon. Known as the throne of the gods, the moon rested peacefully in the heavens. Man enjoyed great prosperity by harnessing the power of the celestial body. Until one day... A sinister force ensnared the moon with chains and fastened them to the surface (lolwut), bleeding the life from the planet. The enchained lands were transformed into withering wasteland, and their once carefree inhabitants now lived in fear. Behind the world's plight were the Dreadknights and his menacing force, the Order of Chains.
Deep in a forest, in one of the Order's prison, a young boy named Capell was being held captive. His captor called him the "Liberator", though he had no clue as to what they meant. On the third day of his imprisonment, he was rescued by a spirited young woman named Aya. She was a member of a small band of brave warriors who had gathered under the banner of Sigmund the Liberator to free the world from the iron grip of the Order.
Upon meeting Sigmund, he was surprised to find a man who shared his very face and appearance. This meeting would change Capell's life forever and shake the foundation of the world itself...

sauce:Infinite Undiscovery manual. Easy =)

Hence Capell started his journey alongside Sigmund to free the world from the Chains, although he hesitate at first because he is scared of being hurt (wimpass). Many things happened in their journey all over the world (which seemingly a bit too small in my eyes), meeting many kinds of people (some which then joined the party) . Overall the story is nothing short of the typical jrpg plot, saving the world from the root of all evil. Even the ending share similarity to, say, Tales of Vesperia. And this game is also among those where one of the main cast died so early in the game (coughaerithff7cough), although post-game that character can still return to the party (like in Valkyrie Profile series).
As for plot development, although it does indeed give me a good impression, overall I feel that it's not thoroughly developed probably because the short length of the game. The only character with great development is Capell, I was especially surprised to see how he changed after the tragedy of Sapran. Good thing, there are many humor scenes added to the plot, (both direct and indirect humor) which added to my enjoyment while playing this game.
But then, I still don't understand why this game is named 'Infinite Undiscovery" :))

Characters

There are a wide variety of characters available to be picked for your party (maximum of 4). Some of them are awesome that not putting them in the party is a sin, while others are just average. But in the end it's all down to the players preference on who to use. Aya for example is a very good long range fighter with healing support, and is very useful to initiate first strike on the enemies. Rucha (Fire), Michellle (Aether) and Eugene (Earth) are the mages in the game, they're one who strikes with mega elemental spells and heals the parties whenever necessary. While it does not really matther which mage you would want to put in the party, it has been proven that Earth Element seems to work far far efficient than any other element, and hence Eugene come on top. Touma, being the only primary "aristo" in the game, is useful when exploring places with lots of Lunar Rain (especially Cobasna Timberland) because he is not affected by Lunar Power.
On top of that, there are also secondary characters that can only be used during certain mission that require additional parties (because the mission is rather large, although I personally don't see much difference between having them or not in the mission). How I wish Seraphina is a primary characters D:

Gameplay

Tri-Ace always excel with their battle system, and IU is no different. The game incorporate real time hack and slash action, with the battle system similar to Star Ocean series (basic and strong attacks, and holding the attack button allows you to execute Battle Skills assigned to the button) - except that there is no distinct short or long range-assigned Battle Skills. We can also combo with Capell's attack to create various combo, which basically enable us cancels basic-linked Battle Skill to strong-linked Battle skill. Again, this is like Cancel combo in SO, except that we can only cancel once per combo D:
Capell is the only character that can be controlled in battle/field, although we can still "Connect" him to other ally in the party to execute specific commands/attacks. This is especially useful for many purposes, like smashing he unbreakable boulders (Balbagan/Gustav), unlocking the locked treasure chest (Komachi/Vic), speaking with animals (Rico) and even commencing long range pre-emptive strike (I especially like using Aya's long range skill like Peacock Blow or Cardinal Cloak) which gives massive bonuses in battle (extra exp, 100% critical rate and high item drop rate). Basically "Connect" feature is what makes IU different than many other games.
Oh yeah, another similarity to Star Ocean is Flute. We've seen the Dragon Flute in Star Ocean 3, which is mostly only used in certain dungeon I forgot in SO3. In IU however, the application of Flute extend further more. Over the course of the game, players can learn various flute melodies, some of which are very useful in battle,while others are just there for the lulz, never being touched (at least I don't). 2 of the most useful melodies in the game is undoubtedly "Percipere" and "Mare Lunaris". The former allows you to uncover invisible objects (and even allows you to fight against that damn Vermiform), while the latter suppress the lunaglyph power of the blessed allies to prevent them from turning into Vermiform and KILL you. Better than Lunar Surpressant imo. And late, late in the post-game you'll get one of the best Flute melody, Symphony which increase ALL stats of the party as high as 30-40%. Unfortunately, the effect only last as long as the flute is played =.=

Sidequests

It is not RPG if there is no sidequest. IU also have many sidequests to offer, although not as much as SO3. From the item creation which allow you to craft various powerful items and weapons (some of the most powerful weapons can only be synthesised via this method); enchantment which gives various battle bonuses (like additional ATK/DEF/Crit rate/EXP etc); to the extra dungeons which allows you to fight against dreadful monsters and secret bosses. I kinda missed Battle Throphies as used in SO3 though, that makes it even more challenging if there's ever one.

Others

The game is unbelievably short, unlike many other jrpg that I've played. It take me less than 25 hours of gameplay time to finish disc 1 and further 25 hours to complete the game (before continuing with post-game sidequests). As I said before, the world seems rather small to me. Yes, small because there is only 5 major towns/cities in the whole game, and 2 small village, one of which last only for a couple of gameplay hours. All the cities and dungeons expand around 2 main settings in the game - Luce Plains and Oradian Dunes - which extend further oversea to Kalton to the "end of the world", Halgita (first being Nolaan). For normal difficulties, nothing in this game can be of problem if you're properly levelled. Although, getting some of the secret missions/achievements are rather a pain in the ass if you aim to get as many Achievements as possible. The real challenge come after you beat the game twice, where Infinite mode (similar to 4D of SO3) is unlocked. Feel the pain of hell.

Overall Infinite Undiscovery has been one of the best games I played in 2008, on top of being one of the reason why I desperately want to buy a 360. There are flaws here and there, especially in character expression (which Square Enix always fail anyway) but the battle system totally make up for it.

bonus video: Capell's battle skill exhibition. Eternal Refrain and Grin Valesti rawks XD


next: Seraphic Gate exclusive