Tegami Bachi 21 - Potpouri of Memories

After finishing a long trip delivery, Connor suggested that they went to the Therapy room to relax themselves. It was a room developed by the corpse doctor, Dr Thunderland Jr. They were surprised to see that the room has a nice smell. There, they met a person named Mana Jones who collaborate with Dr Thunderland for this project, and she explained how the relaxing smell was made with various herbs and flower. That was when Lag found out that Mana was an old acquaintance of Gauche, and the story went back to the past..

It all went back to the day when Mana was still a researcher in the academy, looking for a way to to relieve muscle fatigue using plant aroma. She didn't seem to be happy to see Dr Thunderland because she thought that he didn't value her research much. One night she fell asleep in her research room accidentally caused fire. As a result, some chemical liquid fell from the top of a rack and caught her eyes, resulting in blindness in both eyes. As Mana's superior, Dr Thunderland was summoned by Amberground Bioscience Advisory Panel to discuss about the accident and he was informed that Mana wished to withdraw from her research due to her condition. He then went to visit Mana in the hospital and but it seems like Mana was set with her decision to quit. Gauche later had a talk with Dr Thunderland in Mana's burnt room and from that he knows how much care the corpse doctor had for Mana. Dr Thunderland realised one thing that could reignite Mana's will to continue her research, and sent her a bottle of helenseed which remind her of the first time she tried to apply as researcher in that place, showing how much desire she had at that time. Meanwhile Dr Thunderland was summoned again for the verdict of Mana's punishment, but Mana appeared soon after to withdraw her wish to quit. She was relieved off her punishment, but was given only one week to prove the value of her research..

comments: It's quite rare that the arc doesn't end with just one episode. Although this episode focus more on Mana Jones (Marina Inoue ftw \o/) and Dr. Thunderland Jr, we still got to see a bit piece of Gauche before he lost his heart, it's good to see the continuity of this in the next episode. Proving the value of her research within one week, when all these years it yields virtually nothing will prove to be difficult for them. Seeing the story still has a long way to go, it's fairly safe to assume that we would see season 2 in the future. Dr Corpse really is a kind doctor. We've seen this side of him before when he quarantined the stray cats to prevent widespread disease, and this episode further shows that, giving Mana a pass even though her research yield no scientific result. He seems having too much enthusiasm in research. And just a rant from me as a researcher who works on lab myself, I cannot comprehend why must she put such dangerous chemical bottle at the very top of the shelves?

"That which is easily obtained has little value"

dota comic artist - Milikki

The author of this comic series is Milikki, a talent girl from China.
She started to draw Warcraft-subject comic from 2004 and is very famous in China.
Now She is a illustrator and comic author for many Chinese web-sites and magazines.

Promoting dota comics by a female artist from china, Milikki. Awesome stuff, really cute and funny. Some of the jokes are kinda lame but overall I'm pretty entertained with her works, although majority of them has yet to be translated. I don't understand Chinese, but I do understand what's happening in some of the comics based on the pictures. Depending on your knowledge, some of the jokes might be hard to understand though.

most of her dota-related works can be found on her website:
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/articlelist_1061863804_10_1.html

Some of her English-translated stuff can be found in this link:
The English-translated stuff can also be found in PD's Media section stickied topic.

Click me for sample

Some of her untranslated stuff that I like, really funny if you understand what the joke's about :3

And lastly, her own version of the previous DotA loading screen, cutely made into this wallpapers:



I REALLY LOVE HER WORKS!!! XD

Ookamikakushi 8 - Complication

This episode started off with the underground cell where Kaname was confined. She was visited by a few guys and later Nemuru, where she then explained her curiosity about the Jouga wolf and human form relation, and it turned out that Nemuru and her people were the Jouga Wolves, monsters with cursed destiny. Nemuru decides to release Kaname, but that leads the people on the house to question her action as it might expose their secret. One of the guy stated that a handyman was dispatched to destroy the strong mitsu, which apparently are those in list with Hiro's name inside, and begin their search for the said "mitsu" thereafter. In other location, Sakaki went to meet the doctor, asking some sort of data pertaining ways to cure kamibito's disease. Details of the "disease" were given, noting their special trait of irrepressible impulse.

Hiro was on his way back from school when he was then approached by the men in red cloak and asked to give himself in, but they were dismissed by Nemuruand for this, she was consequently punished according to their law (dismissal and house arrest). Back home, Hiro clearly was still disturbed by what happened in the last few days and decided to contact Sakaki to meet the next day, and confessed how he really feel about all this incidents. Back to Nemuru's situation, she heard a false information that Hiro was captured and run off to help him, only to be ambushed by Sakaki. Nemuru, with her superhuman power easily brushed Sakaki aside but later she was caught off guard and captured. Hiro was called to the place, and met the captured Nemuru, and the inevitable and truths were about to be exposed as the red moon shone bright...

comments: Amazing episode, this has become so tense. And holy crap, the BGM in Nemuru vs Sakaki's fight was beyond awsmness, truly amazing piece of arrangement! In any case, suddenly a bunch of new terminologies were introduced in this episode. Kamibito? Kamiotoshi? Mitsu? And I 'm still in the dark over the fallen human mentioned previously. Nevertheless, the stuff about Jouga wolves/Kamibito and their non-suppressible desire was disclosed which made things about Issei and the rest of the incidents occurring in the town clearer. Though I have little idea how was the moon related to that, nor how was Nemuru special compared to others. There's stuff about Kaori to be concerned too, as well as why Hiro was one of the mitsu.
Nemuri got the wrong information about Hiro's abduction, which means Sakaki did have some form of connection with the internal people in Nemuru's house, which my guess would be that man who always opposed Nemuru in the meeting. On a side note, now I don't know who's in the right and wrong side. My first impression is that I don't like the people in the town who sticks too much with their law, but now it is Sakaki who looks to be the villain. Definitely can't wait for the "truth" that Sakaki mentioned would be revealed to Hiro when he was trapped together with the captured Nemuru. I mean, there's red moon outside, so there's at least one thing would likely to happened next. Oh, and the motives why Nemuru repeatedly saves Hiro?

Durarara 8 - Transient Dream

We're back to Celty again this time. She had a day off after almost a year, and for that Shinra also decided to do the same. To commemorate this rare day, she would like to cook for Shinra, and she did it nicely but Shinra's teary eyes led her to think that she screwed up her cooking and swept it away into a big black sphere. Talk about misunderstanding. More conversations about Celty's head followed, but ended up with Celty getting angry after Shinra repeated his remark that she didn't need her head, and that she didn't like to be treated like a kid. Talk about another misunderstanding? As she headed out, she had a deep thought about the importance of her head and how her current self fare without it. Nevertheless, both made up later and went to Simon's sushi restaurant for some food..

To the Dollars members. The kidnapping case was solved but Kadota decided to look further into the issue, starting with the Yagiri Pharmacy, although he has yet to make any move. Oh his way back, he passed by a guy who later tried to bomb-suicide the Yagiri Pharmacy but failed and was later attended by Shinra. Karisawa and Yumacchi had their own little scene too. So did Mikado trio, where Anri apparently lost her shoes in her locker. Both Anri and Mikado went looking for it together, but Anri decided to give up for that day and went home, although shortly after Mikado did found the shoes and returned it to Anri, without being able to say much words. And finally the scenes switched to Seiji and her "girlfriend", and the truth were revealed..

comments: This episode seems going all over the place for me because of the scenes switching, but the major talking point is undoubtedly Celty and the pursuit of her head, with big spoilers revealed regarding her head. But then we probably already see that coming from long ago, more so for the novel/manga readers. Celty as a cooker is rather unexpected and the fact that they're delicious made it even more surprising (especially after seeing how she tried to cut the vege with her mini scythe). I wonder how much her "current" head affect her body/emotions. I do share Dotachin's curiosity about the kidnapping and human experiment by Yagiri Pharmacy, and it looks like more details would be filled to us in the next episode.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Bonus: Durarara!! OP single, Uragiri no Yuuyake by THEATRE BROOK

tracklist:
01 - Uragiri no Yuuyake
02 - Mirai wo Ima
03 - Uragiri no Yuuyake -TV Size Opening Ver.-
04 - Uragiri no Yuuyake -TV Size Long Ver.-
05 - Uragiri no Yuuyake -Karaoke Mix-

[DOWNLOAD]

Sugar Sweet Nightmare

[DOWNLOAD]

what a fine song. I did saw the torrent for full version upped on TT a few days ago but pay not much heed on it because, well, I never have much expetation for most songs from Yui Horie, until after I watch the actual episode (Bakemonogatari ep 14). Love it :3
This song comes together with Bakemonogatari OST part 1. Part 2 out in late March.

*i can't upload to MF and MU, so using mirrorcreator is probably the best option for me.

[dota] RD's selected replay of the month

It's been awhile since I post about dota. Due to my study, I haven't been able to play any game since the last few weeks, although I still kept in touch on changes and replays uploaded on GG. This time, one particular replay from Storm the Front caught my attention, featuring Indonesian team [R]Digi on sentinel, and Malaysian team SOS on scourge.

Replay details:


GameMode: -cm
Length: 20:12 Minutes

now take time to look at the picks and the game length, and you'll know straight away who's the winner.

ok, let's spill the bean then since my comments will obviously contains spoilers about who's the winner.
Click me for winner

SENTINEL WIN

Replay download: [Gosugamers]

In fact, the game probably broke the record of fastest ever game in competitive game, as the Throne was down just under 10 minutes, game time. Sentinel went straight to mid, taking down tower after tower viciously with their superior pushing, healing, mana repleshing and unit numbers; leaving scourge with no room to respond.

Really impressive pushing strategy by sentinel and they executed it perfectly, but they were also helped by the fact that scourge was a totally "inexperienced" team. Oh well, I'll be harsh here. scourge are noob. Up until sentinel's 4th pick, SOS have seen sentinel picking Pugna, Furion, Ezalor and Venomancer. It's a very obvious push strat, yet what do they do with their final pick? Naix and Ursa. Wait whut? It's true that they might not expect the 5-man push right from the beginning, but not even picking an anti-push for safety measure in their final 2 picks is beyond noob. ES was banned, but there's still the likes of Undying, Pit Lord available. Heck I would even say Krobelus would do the job if combined with one of the previous two. Their play was also terrible, throwing themselves one by one to sentinel only to be killed. How are they even in the tournament to beginw ith? I feel ashamed by my fellow countrymen :( The reason I sounds mad is because sentinel's strat can be countered easily if scourge pick the right hero instead of Naix and Ursa, yet it appears that they only pick whatever good for them without considering the opponent's strategy.

p/s: lol@chatlog

Suzumiya Haruhi Imaginary ENOZ & Shoushitsu ED

Title: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu Imaginary ENOZ featuring HARUHI
Artist: Hirano Aya (ENOZ)
Release date: 24/2/10

tracklist:

01 Star way to heaven
02 Secret of sensation
03 When I was in love
04 God knows...
05 Lost my music
06 First Good-Bye

Direct Download: [MF]/[HF]

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

Title: Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu ED Single - Yasashii Boukyaku
Artist: Minori CHihara
Release date: 24/2/10

tracklist:

01 Yasashii Boukyaku
02 Yasashii Boukyaku -sonority-
03 Yasashii Boukyaku -sincerity-
04 Yasashii Boukyaku ~ Aruhi no Yume

Direct Download: [MF]/[HF]

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Nostalgic. Is all I would say for the ENOZ part. Although I'm not really a fan of Hirano Aya and Minori Chihara, I do like some selective songs in their collection (e.g. the obvious God Knows and Kimi ga Kureta Ano hi). Nonetheless I feel Minorin's tranquil ED song do match with how the ending goes in the novel, and hopefully the movie too.
Speaking of the movie, I definitely can't wait for the sub. At some point I do wonder how are KyoAni going to cramp the whole volume into a movie, but then it's probably doable considering the length of the movie. Ah wait, since it was aired in theatre, then the time we have to wait might just be similar to Vesperia First Strike -_-;

Tegami Bachi 20 - Lost Letters

Zazie went to the weapon/bread shop we saw some episodes ago for maintenance of his shindanjuu, where they also had a chat about Zazie's job and killing Gaichuu. Part of his past was shown again, reflecting the reason why he became a Bee. Later that day, Lag went back to Bee Hive to report his progress, only to find that Zazie was attacked by a Gaichuu in Hart Desert. Back in Sylvette's home, Connor explained the Hart Desser that Zazie took was apparently a short cut to a nearby city, but was also a dangerous one as it was infested with Gaichuu. Asking why Zazie use that route, it was known later that he prefer killing Gaichuu than safe route and hence the shorter path taken.

Zazie also lost his letters during the incidents and upon hearing that, Lag volunteered himself to find the letter and finish the job. Lag and Niche eventually found the letter which was stuck at a Gaichuu's horn. As the fight begin, Lag tried to use his Red Needle but it didn't work as the shindan didn't resonance properly inside the gaichuu, mostly because it has 2 gaps forming a channel that dissipates shindan shot. Zazie, adamant to finish the job himself escape his treatment and went to the scene to help Lag. Further fight cause Lag's shindan fragment to touch the letter, revealing the hearts and what actually happened when Zazie fight the Gaichuu and how he actually still care so much about the letter he supposed to deliver. The two combined forces again and eventually managed to take down the Gaichuu after shooting both of the gaichuu's weak spot simultaneously...

comments: it really has been a while since we had some Gaichuu fights, isn't it? Knowing Zazie, I would have guessed that he actually enjoys fighting Gaichuu more than the actual Letter Bee job, but I personally never thought of him as someone who would throw away his letter simply because he was forced to, and it was proven in this episode. But I wonder how much of the Pop's word back then in the weapon/bread shop affects his mind. Also, either I missed something or it has never been told, I don't remember much about Gaichuu's effect to the victim's heart. I do know that Gaichuu was attracted to people's heart, and there's also the thing about Gauche's past when he lost his heart (though not related to Gauchuu). Certanly would love to see more of Zazie's past, relating to his mother's incident.

tough luck D :