Shugo Chara 47 - It's Tough in Showbiz

Yukari is sick, so Amu has to take over as Utau's manager. Utau isn't too happy with this, but she deals with it. Unfortunately when Utau and Amu arrive at the station, they're informed that Utau's gig has been cancelled. Utau is surprised, especially since they won't give her a reason why. Some lackeys from Easter show up and mock her and she realizes that ever since she left, Easter has used its power to shut her out of the biz. Nikaidou visits a slightly delusional Yukari and the two spend quality time together. Meanwhile, Utau begins to feel that she never had that much talent and that it was only Easter's power that allowed her to become so popular. Amu thinks that Utau really does have the ability, so she leads Utau all around down trying to find work for her. Unfortunately, no one seems interested, but Amu's enthusiasm encourages Utau to do her best. As they're resting at the park, Amu spies an X-Egg and takes off after it. While she's gone, more appear, and Utau does a character transform with Eru to purify those eggs. Afterwards, some recognizes her as Utau and she winds up giving a concert in the park, attracting many people.

Utau's character development over the past story arc has been very nice. Her songs Meikyuu Butterfly and Black Diamond were nice, but I much prefer her sweeter songs. They sound more heartfelt and honest. Her relationship with Amu is developing well, and their discussion about Ikuto was really revealing about how she's coming to terms with the fact that she can't be with him. A nice episode with very little plot advancement, but enough interesting character bonding that it's worth watching. Plus Utau's song at the end is beautiful.

--Ou-bento

Politics and Stuff

I was probably going to write something about anime, but U.S. politics is just so much more interesting today. So let's do it Geass style.

I am the bringer of hope and change! Let us overthrow the current old, musty government!

Fool. Did you think your wide-eyed inexperienced self would actually gain that much support?
Behold, my secret weapon...

Marianne for Vice President of the United States of Japan!
Vote now!

--Ou-bento

Chuya-san 4Koma

Just trying to get used to my tablet, so you're stuck with some of my "art" for today. Old joke is old. It's Shuya from Battle Royale. In case you were wondering.

--Ou-bento

Marvel Manga - X-Men, Spiderman Manga Projects

It's no surprise that Ironman and Wolverine are getting their own anime series. Marvel has been spreading its roots into Japanese media for awhile. There are at least three separate manga projects in the works, and I have scoured the internet in search of information and (even more importantly) images. My personal favorite is the Spiderman one because it looks like a lot of fun. The other two seem to be trying just a little too hard, but I can't really judge until I've read them.

Mysterious Spiderman Project
Spiderman drawn by Junko Mizuno. You can find another sample image and a bit more information at C.B. Cebulski's blog. No further details about this project have been announced. It looks like a riot. I'd totally read it.


Wolverine Shonen Manga
Two volume series written by Antony Johnston. Del Ray is publishing this, and I don't really know what to say. It's about Wolverine? Some character designs can be found here including Vincent and Tamara.


X-Men Shoujo Manga
This looks...interesting, if nothing else. Xavier's school is now all boys except for Kitty Pryde. At school Kitty winds up being torn between the super popular Hellfire Club and a bunch of misfits who eventually become the X-Men. Hm...one girl living in a building with all guys? Popular kids at school? Yeah, defintely pretty shoujo sounding to me. Written by Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman. This will also be a two-volume series. Designs for Kitty, some super badboy bishies Bobby and Kurt and a very totoro-like Beast can be found here. Designs for Mystique, Wolverine, Jean Grey and Magneto can be found here.

--Ou-bento

Code Breaker - Manga Firstlook

Sakura is a beautiful highschool girl who receives plenty of confessions from guys who want to protect her fragile beauty. The truth is that she's a martial arts master with a strong sense of justice and terrible street savvy. One day while visiting a stray dog she sees a young man surrounded by blue flames. Those flames are burning up men around him, but he seems unharmed. She returns to the scene later and finds police writing up the scene as a small fire with no trace of any bodies. She wonders who the mysterious boy was only to have him transfer into her class the next day. His name is Rei and he seems like a nice, average guy. However, Sakura follows him and finds that he is a Code Breaker, someone who kills evil people without remorse. She seems determined to stop him, but he doesn't care much for her morals. He openly admits that he is evil for killing, but that won't stop him from hunting other evil doers. However, he soon discovers that his flames have no effect on her. Now Sakura follows Rei on his "part-time job" as he disposes of evil.

The first few pages of Code Breaker really caught my attention because Sakura seemed like a great character. The bishoujo with great martial arts skills investigating a crime scene seemed like a great setup. And then it all went downhill. With the introduction of Rei, all of Sakura's potential dissappeared. Rei's devouring fire gobbles up easily forgettable bad guys with little problem, and Sakura's endless pleas for him to stop killing people are repetetive and frustrating. While she may be instilled with a strong sense of justice, she's completely naive. Standing between Rei and some drug dealer/pimp/crooked cop/murderer isn't going to save the drug dealer/pimp/crooked cop/murderer. More often than not, Sakura winds up a hostage and Rei has a slightly more difficult time completing his mission. Additionally, Sakura's amazing strength and combat abilities are rarely utilized, which is disappointing since I was really looking forward to seeing her kick some tail. All of that wasted potential means Rei has no one interesting to play off of until the eighth chapter when another Code Breaker shows up. But even his sinister rivalry with Rei isn't enough for me to really get drawn in. The story moves slowly with each case introducing some new evil person who dies by the end of the chapter (but not before holding Sakura hostage). There are a few hints of something deeper, but I might get bored and leave before anything good actually happens.

Although the plot feels empty, the art in Code Breaker is very nice. Lines are clean and crisp with the panels rarely deviating from boxes in a row. Backgrounds tend to be sparse, but they instill the scene well enough. Evil and events meant to instill a sense of disgust are drawn in slightly more detail to draw the reader into the emotion of the scene. Character designs are very pleasant, but not outstanding. Overall, very easy on the eyes and a nice read. However, the promising setup seems to be floundering around a bit right now. Hopefully the plot will pick up the pace and our characters will be able to go somewhere.

You can read it online here.

--Ou-bento

Stuff that Should be Anime but Isn't

Often enough, I run across a manga, novel, game, or whatever that really would be wonderful if it were animated. Of course, I also run into anime that really should never have been animated, but that's a different post. And because I'm a dreamer, I like to write about this stuff as if it'll have some sort of power to actually bring these anime series into reality. At least I didn't start an online petition.


.hack//AI Buster
Medium: Light Novel
Why it should be animated: Because unlike .hack//SIGN, it's fast moving, unlike .hack//UDEDEN, it's actually part of the .hack continuity, and unlike .hack//ROOTS, the lead character isn't emo. It's also just a really good story. A one-shot OVA should be just fine. Add some Yuki Kajiura background music and if you're feeling uncreative an Ali Project ending, and you're in business.
Why it isn't animated: It's pretty old. AI Buster was released in Japan years ago, and anything in the .hack world these days is focused on the World Version 2, which means all we get is Haseo.
Who I'd Cast:
Albireo - Hikaru Midorikawa
Lycoris - Rie Tanaka
Hokuto - Ami Koshimizu

Double Arts
Medium: Manga
Why it should be animated: It's a Shonen Jump series with all the necessary ingredients for a delightfully long running series. A plucky male hero, powerful legendary sidekicks, and an evil and somewhat mysterious organization that wants to do something vaguely evil and bad to the world. Thankfully, it's still highly entertaining with the included twist of the lead male always having to be in contact with the lead female. While the action sequences are nicely drawn, I would be very delighted to see them animated. Throw this one to like BONES or something, get an opening by FLOW and call it dandy.
Why it isn't animated: It's still a very young series. We haven't even gotten to the tournament arc yet.
Who I'd Cast:
Kiri - Daisuke Sakaguchi
Elle - Kaori Nazuka
Sui - Ryou Hirohasi
Fallan - Toshiyuki Morikawa
Zezu - Kentarou Itou

Mirai Nikki
Medium: Manga
Why it should be animated: Because everyone loves a good yandere, and Yuno can really knock it out of the park in that arena. Also, the plot is pretty tweaking interesting and the characters are a lot of fun. Supernatural mysteries and lots of mind games make this a story well worth an anime treatment. Although it seems unlikely, Sunrise would be a good choice to animate this. They're masters of the emo faces, at least. HAL Filmmaker would also do well.
Why it isn't animated: Likely because the manga isn't complete, and I'd wager most fans wouldn't appreciate a beach filler arc that introduces "fake diary holders" who can only be defeated in a game of EXTREME BEACH VOLLEYBALL, except the sand clogs up Yuki's diary and they have to rely on the resurrected previous winner to save them.
Who I'd Cast:
Yuki (1st) - Tetsuya Kakihara
Yuno (2nd) - Satsuki Yukino
Keigo (4th) - Nobutoshi Canna
Reisuke (5th) - Akemi Kanda
Tsubaki (6th) - Mai Nakahara
Minene (9th) - Houko Kuwashima
Yomotsu (12th) - Kappei Yamaguchi
Deus ex Machina - Norio Wakamoto
Murumuru - Marina Inoue
Akise - Mamoru Miyano

+Anima
Medium: Manga
Why it should be animated: +Anima is one of my favorite manga series, and I've long wanted to see it animated. The story is playful and the characters (sans Nana) are likeable. The plot itself wanders with the characters, but it's a soothing storyline that makes for a pleasant read. The artwork is beautiful, and if they can work the same magic they did for true tears, I'd like to see P.A. Works pick this one up. Also, it needs a Savage Genius OP and a Maaya Sakamoto ED.
Why it isn't animated: I don't know how large the audience is for this. As far as I can tell, +Anima has slipped beneath most radars despite the cute storyline and beautiful artwork.
Who I'd cast:
Cooro - Junko Minagawa
Husky - Mitsuki Saiga
Senri - Souichiro Hoshi
Nana - Sakura Nogawa

Hatsune Miku
Medium: Software
Why it should be animated: There's so much Hatsune Miku stuff I'm surprised that it hasn't been picked up for an anime series yet. The adventures of a Vocaloid aiming for stardom (or maybe turning Sharon Apple evil) wouldn't even have to be well scripted for people to eat it up. Knowing how much they like to pander to fans, I'd think KyoAni would get this. I'd laugh if it were picked up by SHAFT.
Why it isn't animated: Because really...there's not much of a plot. If someone can come up with something decent, it'll be a huge hit. But the only manga are either mindless 4koma or Chobits ripoffs.
Who I'd cast:
...
Seriously? You have to ask?
Miku - Saki Fujita
Rin/Len - Asami Shimoda

--Ou-bento

Toradora! - Manga First Look

I have a huge weakness for tsundereko, so when I found out upcoming anime series Toradora! had a tsundereko being voiced by Rie Kugimiya, I knew I had to check it out. So I decided I'd brush up on the manga to get an idea of what the story's about. Turns out the lead female Taiga has a vicious tsun tsun side that matches the likes of Louise, but her dere dere side is so much cuter.

The lead male Ryuuji is a nice guy who likes cooking, cleaning, and all sorts of domestic things. Unfortunately, he's got the sort of eyes that make him look like a delinquent ready to pick a fight. Matched up against the tiny but feisty Taiga, the two make an amazing couple. Except they're not a couple. Ryuuji's love interest is Taiga's best friend, and Taiga's love interest is Ryuuji's best friend. Ryuuji accidentally discovers Taiga's interest, and so the two agree to help each other out in gaining their prospective interests. Unfortunately, the way they go about such a thing leads to plenty of misconceptions, and Taiga is hopeless at pretty much everything. From forgetting to insert a love letter in her envelope to mixing up salt and sugar for her cookies and completely freezing up during her confession, Taiga is hopeless at attracting Ryuuji's friend. And then of course, once word gets out that Taiga and Ryuuji are now an item, they suddenly receive the blessings of their friends without even getting a word in. Let the romantic confusion begin.
Toradora! is far from groundbreaking, and anyone with half a braincell can probably predict the ending. It's not about the destination, though. It's about the journey. And what a journey. Taiga's tsun tsun spells are a little more violent than I prefer, but her dere dere side is so adorable. SO. ADORABLE. The art is decent, if not a little confusing. A few of the character designs blend together, and I still can't figure out what's up with Ryuuji's bird. But hey, it's a good read for anyone in the mood for light romantic comedy featuring a tsundere.

You can read it online here.

--Ou-bento

Toy Envy (And Shugo Chara 46...I guess)

You know what I like about Horrible Raws? They leave commercials in so I can be jealous of all those little Japanese kids who get toys that I never had. Oh yeah, and Shugo Chara 46 was about some girl named Miyako who likes comedy and wants to get into tsukkomi boke. She was pretty bad, and Rima wasn't impressed, but Miyako got all excited when Rima did a perfect bala balance, so she asked Rima to be her master. Rima became her teacher and then Miyako was told by some dude she was no good and she had an x-egg and then it got purified and then she was a great comedian. Then Miyako, Rima, Amu, and that one dude who initally said Miyako was no good all went frolicking through the waves. The end.

Anyway. While watching Shugo Chara, I got to see a commercial for a Sugar Bunnies ice cream maker.

This delightful toy gives aspiring Japanese girls (and boys, I guess) the opportunity to make their own ice cream...in amounts of about two tablespoons at a time. But ice cream!

And look at these amazing portions of ice cream! Even as kids, they're taught that food must also be appealing to the eye. I remember having an EZ-Bake Oven as a kid. Those things where you cook stuff on top of a lightbulb. The nicest looking thing you could get out of it was a round cake. But really, everything you got out of it was a round cake.

And there's even a toy that makes gummy candies. I think I remember seeing one like it in the toy store around here, but it was for boys and the gummies came out spider-shaped or something so that they could eat "creepy crawlies" or whatever. I also remember seeing a Sugar Bunnies onigiri maker with molds and cutters to make cutely shaped vegetables and eggs to go on the cutely shaped onigiri. My EZ-Bake Oven still only makes round cakes... I wish I had toys that made pretty food. I even saw a set in Osaka that was all about how to frost a cake using one of those frosting tubes. That's a skill I still don't have, but some little girl in Japan is totally ahead of me now. If I ever get in a cake decorating contest with her, I'm toast.

At least I have a real kitchen now with which to cook whatever I feel like. But I still can't make my own ice cream or gummies. And I have to cut out all my vegetable shapes by hand. Life as a grown-up is tough.

--Ou-bento

Haruhi-chan and Churuya getting Animated

So I'm not a Haruhist, and I actually never even managed to jump onto the Haruhi bandwagon. I'm of those people who never really "got it." But I think if Haruhi looked more like this I'd probably find it a lot more entertaining. Haruhi-chan and Churuya are getting animated and coming to the 'net (news courtesy ANN). ONAs are fun stuff because they're short, (usually) free, and so much easier to blog. And when I'm in the mood for some mindless fun, I prefer cute little chibi types cutely doing random things (or even nothing) over chicks groping other chicks.

--Ou-bento

Abridged Series - What's the big deal?

Pay no attention to the picture. I had nothing relevant to put there. So I'm sure anyone who haunts YouTube has noticed a startling amount of anime abridged series flooding the internets. I still don't get it. To be fair, I've only seen a few of Yu-gi-oh, Naruto, and about thirty seconds of many others. And to be fair, some of them are certainly funny. But most of them are not only un-funny, but really boring. Which makes me wonder what the point is. It feels more like watching a bunch of recap episodes. Recap episodes are not lulz-worthy. Recap episodes are boring.

Now you'd think that really boring stuff wouldn't take off, but for some reason these abridged series get inundated with comments saying how funny/hilarious/epic win/whatever they are. Do I just have no sense of humor? Am I a stoic freak with no appreciation for comedy? I'm sad that I can only muster a chuckle once in awhile for most of these apparently "epic" series. What does epic mean, anyway? I thought that was reserved for really long poems. If I posted a recap episode and called it an abridged series, would I gain internet fame? Or would I have to dub over it first with a low-quality mic and subpar acting?

Okay, honest request: Point me in the direction of an abridged series you actually enjoyed. Teach me what humor is!

--Ou-bento

Code Geass: Most Popular Character is...Prince Clovis? O_o?

So I decided to stop by Bandai Entertainment's official Code Geass site today, and stumbled upon a character popularity poll. Getting fans involved is good. Getting fans who have only seen about two episodes involved might give you misleading results, though. The top two most popular characters in the poll were Prince Clovis in first and Rivalz in second. Seriously? The results almost make it look like a "least liked character" poll (but then...where is NINA?) The best part of the poll however was all the comments that came along with it.

#1.) Prince Clovis
"Hail Britannia! Long live Clovis!"
That's...ironic.

#2.) Rivalz
"Rivalz takes second place with 17.8% of the vote! We were... um... uh... slightly surprised with this result. Perhaps there is a segment of fandom we have overlooked?"
We call that segment "people who have only seen two episodes."

#3.) Lelouch
"By the way... shhh... he is also Zero. It's a SECRET."
SPOILERS. Oh yeah, and Snape kills Dumbledore.

#4.) Shirley
"Personally I have a soft spot in my heart for Shirley~"
So does Rolo. owo

#5.) C.C.
"A mysterious girl Lelouch meets. She looks like she's a teenager, but everything about her is unknown."
Yeah, I really expected C.C. to get higher marks than fifth. But considering that she got shot in the head in the first episode, I can't blame the poor fans for knowing nearly zip about her.

I'm no statistics expert, but I'd wager that a (season one) character popularity poll among those who have seen more would look something more like this:
5.) Cornelia
4.) Karen
3.) Lelouch
2.) C.C.
1.) Orange Jerimiah

Thoughts? Who rocked the fandom world in R1? How different would it be if R2 were included? Should there be a most hated character poll? Suzaku, Nina, and Rolo would really have to duke it out.

--Ou-bento

Fall 2008 Picks

Well friends, it's that time again. Thankfully, Fall season looks decidedly more interesting than this summer, so I've managed to pull out quite a few things that I'm looking forward to. And here's the list, vaguely ordered from the one I'm most excited about to the one that I'll watch if I get bored.

Skip Beat!
ANN
Yeah okay, so if you didn't see this one coming you don't read this blog very often. I've been a huge Skip Beat! fan for awhile, so I am definitely watching this, and I am definitely blogging this.



Chaos;HEAd
ANN | Official Site
Ooh, randomly capitalized letters in random English words. Already very promising. It looked good enough when it seemed to just be a creepy and somewhat supernatural mystery. But if the images at the main site and ANN are any indication, there might be yandere too. That makes it extra special good. I hope someone subs this, since I wager my Japanese might not be able to keep up.


Yozakura Shijuusou ~Yozakura Quartet~
ANN | Official Site (TBS) | Official Site (Kondansha)
So I read the first volume of the manga and liked it. Kids with powers is nothing new, but the kid without powers makes is more interesting. Also, Savage Genius is doing the OP which makes me very excited.


Toradora!
ANN | Official Site
Has tsundere. Will watch.



Hakushaku to Yousei (Count and Fairy)
ANN | Official Site
So the chick in the purple dress is a Fairy Doctor (whatever that means), and then Tamaki Edgar the Knight shows up to get help from her. Also, there's a cool looking dude named Raven and a very fluffy cat named Nico. The plot seems interesting, but I'll mostly be watching this because the three leads will be voiced by Nana Mizuki, Hikaru Midorikawa, and Tomokazu Sugita.



Michiko to Hatchin
ANN | Official Site
This looks like a hit or miss for me. Sexy free-willed divas aren't usually my type, but this one looks like a female version of Mugen (Samurai Champloo) and the little girl looks like she might actually be feisty. It's worth a look.


Stitch!
Official Site
Yeah okay so I never saw the movies or the show or anything. But watching Stitch speak in Japanese is hilarious. Don't expect me to blog this unless something groundbreaking happens.

--Ou-bento

Oh, so it's Katsuyuki Konishi

So, Skip Beat. Ren. Katsuyuki Konishi. Sometimes I'm a little slow on the news. But hey, I got it. Finally. For all the stuff he's been in, I've heard pitifully little. What I have heard, though, gives me no doubt about his range and ability. The sound of him giggling like a schoolgirl in the Gurren Lagann live dub was like comic gold already.

Hearing him as Ishida in Bamboo Blade and everyone's favorite lord of the GAR, Kamina gives me no doubt about his manliness, but I've only heard a vaguely smooth voice from him once as Komui in D.Grayman. I'm very intrigued, as I can't really remember a time when I've heard him play a Ren-type, so now I'm especially excited. His voice is great and I know he's got the acting skills. Now my curiosity is really getting to me. D: The Skip Beat! cast is already full of talent. Please let it be October now?

Tamaki Shou inner mind theater.
Did I just start Mamoru Miyano jokes already? OH YES I DID.

--Ou-bento

Code Geass R2 19 - It's like a Train Wreck

Everyone knows Nunally is the final mastermind. Nina's bomb was initially meant to be some fireworks that spelled out "Euphie is hot. Zero is a loser." But Nunally snuck out and switched it, which is the reason for Nina's emo-session. Nunally is also the one who ordered all those people to follow Suzaku, and it's clear that Schniezel is merely a puppet. She had a permanent Geass for awhile, the power being that of COMPLETE MIND CONTROL. That's why her eyes were always shut. C.C.'s immortality went to her, so now she's pretending to be dead and watching from the shadows, plotting her next move.

In the meantime, another route closed in this episode. That leaves three (four?) possible endings. I'm voting for the one that isn't MOE MOE.

Cute. Really cute. I like her more, but the whole submissive routine isn't my thing.

I've been cheering for her from the beginning. Karen end is a good end.
(Although admittedly, it would be kinda interesting to see her with Gino...)

She should move on. Maybe marry Tamaki. I'm going to get shot for saying that, huh?

...

--Ou-bento

Bitter Virgin - Manga Review

Most slice-of-life manga I've read is innocent and pleasant, full of quiet tales of a family life or just getting through school. Bitter Virgin is far from innocent, and it takes quite a few steps into the realm of unpleasant. Daisuke is bored of his life in a small town and spends most of his days flirting with whatever girl catches his eye at school. The only girl he'd never go for is Hinako, a sweet girl who never allows men to touch her. He's disgusted by her "cute, innocent" act as if she's some perfect virgin who doesn't ever want to have fun with boys. One day, Daisuke hides in a confessional to escape some of his adoring female friends and Hinako mistakes him for a priest. She confesses to him that she aborted a child and gave another up for adoption after she was sexually abused by her step father. In shock, Daisuke suddenly realizes that her personality isn't an act, but merely a girl living in fear. He becomes increasingly interested in Hinako as he begins to understand her better, but the girls he used to play around with aren't so happy that their boy toy has suddenly focused his attention on the most plain, docile and shy girl in class. Hinako has to deal with their bullying and lies while Daisuke tries to get close to her and heal the wounds on her heart, all while trying to figure out why he's interested in her in a way that he's never felt before.
There's plenty of manga out there that deals with pretty heavy topics, but Bitter Virgin is one of my favorites. It drew me in from the beginning with flawed characters and an unassuming plot. There are a few contrived instances like a runaway baby carriage and a serial rapist on the run, but for the most part the story stays in reality and lets the characters stumble through like real human beings. The return of Daisuke's now pregnant older sister later on is especially powerful, as Hinako struggles to understand why anyone would be happy to be pregnant. Bitter Virgin is a painful story that doesn't make any apologies. It's not entirely depressing, as there are many sweet moments and happy times, just like real life. But it deals with things such as rape, abortion, and even love in a very honest way without pretending to be anything grand.
Artwork is clean and exceedingly simple. Lines are solid and clean with simple tones and a sparing use of background. The wide-eyed characters aren't quite cartoony, but they don't fall into the realm of realistic, either. The driving force of the story is the characters, and scenes and settings rarely play into the equation with characters standing out from the background or against plain white most of the time. Character designs aren't stunning, but they differentiate from each other enough and are pleasant to look at. The storytelling moves at a fairly even pace, never bothering to rush the reader, but sometimes slowing down to express emotions more clearly. Emotions are usually drawn in a manner more subtle than the popular "emo face contortions," of late, which makes it easier to understand what the characters are feeling.

Bitter Virgin has drawn me into the story, but I honestly can't recommend it to many people. The subject is a heavy and somewhat uncomfortable topic, and anyone looking for a good time should probably stay away. It's also a decidedly mature story, although the maturity comes more from the nature of the topic rather than any attempt at pulling in more audience members by showing naked teenage girls.

Bitter Virgin is scanned by Solaris-SVU.
You can read it online here.

--Ou-bento

Kotomi Cosplay Pics

I like showing off. D: Or I'm too lazy to write any content today. Maybe both! Anyway. I bought this CLANNAD uniform in Osaka and since I'm a raving Kotomi fan, cosplaying her was the obvious choice. I'm still missing proper shoes and her hair ties, but I'm very impatient so I took a lot of pictures anyway. The violin one is my personal favorite, namely because my violin skills are somewhere on the same level as Kotomi's. Notes on the wig are here.





--Ou-bento

Akiba-chan Episode 01 - And then her Apartment Exploded

Akiba-chan is dozing off in her apartment when her best friend Milk jumps over onto her balcony to say hi. Milk wants to make chocolates for Valentine's day so they do. All sorts of cute shenanigans happen like dropping the cookbook in chocolate, Akiba-chan trying to heat chocolate in the microwave (you can only do that in small portions, you fool!), and a bee getting into the kitchen. All this results in Akiba-chan chasing a bee around the kitchen while her microwave bellows smoke and Milk getting dusted with flour. And then the apartment explodes.

So I was never big into stop-motion animation or ball-jointed dolls. But for some reason I decided watching this would be a good idea. The animation isn't nearly as creepy as I imagined it would be, but the fact that their fingers never move still looks really awkward. The opening is suitable, although the ending is a bizarrely sedate song that doesn't seem to fit the mood at all. Anything not one of the girls or a prop she interacts with is CG-riffic, which looks really strange. There's absolutely zero plot, but that's probably the point. Definitely a cute show for the target audience, and if I were babysitting kids who knew Japanese, I'd probably force them to watch it in the vague hope they'd enjoy the antics of little dolls who can't cook.

When I was in high school, I microwaved a bee.

Why doesn't my microwave come with an "emergency" warning?

--Ou-bento

Food I Ate in Osaka

Asia trip report 03: I like food. A lot. And I actually took pictures of food I got in Osaka. Why? Erm...because I can?

My group practically raided a 7-11, and these are the spoils of war. I got a melonpan for myself and it was sweet and delicious. :D Also, some sort of ramen onigiri was was...odd. The rice was flavored with ramen soup mix and it had little bits of ramen noodles in it as well as half of an hard boiled egg. The soba came with a little packet of water. I think it was to make the noodles unsticky, but I'm not sure. @___@

Making takoyaki. These are really popular in Osaka. It was cool because they poured the batter into this hot metal thing and we got to cook it on a fire. And add like little bits of octopus and stuff.

Katsu curry. I love golden curry like ~D: so eating at a curry place made me super happy. I never knew they put parmesan cheese on it. o.o

Okonomiyaki. We went to a place where the servers cooked them for us on a grill right on the table. This is them just getting started. I initially thought that I wouldn't like it too much because there's cabbage and stuff in the batter. But it was actually incredibly delicious and I would love to have more someday. Spatulas are fun to play with, too.

--Ou-bento

Cosplay Notes: Kotomi Wig (CLANNAD)

This is what I was going to post yesterday, but it took a lot longer to finish styling this than I imagined it would. I have discovered that Kotomi's hair is physically improbable and terribly impractical with normal hair. I do not claim this post to be a tutorial in any way, shape, or form. Even so, I'm decently pleased with the result.

I started with a long dark purple wig that I had initially bought for my Matsuri cosplay (sola). However, it turned out to be neither dark enough nor long enough, so I decided to convert it to Kotomi once I got the chance. When I wore it as Matsuri, it was rather windy, so the first step was to comb it out.

Now that it's been combed with a wide tooth comb, it looks so much nicer and smooth and shiny. owo Long haired wigs are always really tangly. Thankfully I only have three so I don't have too much grief in my cosplay collection.

The first thing I did was cut out Kotomi's little side hair thingies. Strands? They're too thick to be strands. Sideburns? @_@ Anyway. I very carefully separated the parts that I intended to cut and I tied the rest back to keep it out of the way. Cutting more than you want always leads to bad. D:

Lopped off a good chunk of hair leaving the wig slightly longer than I want it to be. I tied up the bundles of hair I cut off to save for later.

Here's what it looks after I chopped off the sides. Kinda like a bad haircut, ne? Kotomi's cut is pretty straight, but it curves up and it's longer in front. So time for some trimming.

And here it is after the trim. I was pretty meticulous about it, as you can probably guess from the pile of purple fuzz all around the sink. I don't really know much about cutting hair or wigs, so it takes me awhile to cut anything decently. Otherwise, you get bad haircut-like wigs. And that's bad.

Alright, on to the hair I cut off earlier. I used a clear tie in the middle, folded it over and tied it again to make a nice little clump of hair to be a twintail for Kotomi. Each side I cut off got converted into one of these little twintails. The end is uneven, but that's really not important.

I then lifted up a bit of hair from the top where I wanted to stick the twintail and sewed the twintail to the wig mesh underneath.

In order to get the twintail to actually stick out, I stuck a bobby pin from the inside of the wig through the mesh and under the hair tie around the twin tail. This photo is terrible, so I will try to explain it if it makes any sense. I put the bobby pin inside the wig and stuck it out through the mesh, then I put the hair tie around it so that the straight pin would hold the twintails out instead of letting them flop down sadly on the side. This is the same technique I used when styling a Misa Misa wig to make her little pigtails stick out.

I combed the hair that I lifted two steps ago over the twintail to hide the sewn connection and tied it together with another hair tie.

Gave the twintail a trim to make it a nice even cut. It looks pretty thin, but it can easily be floofed up with fingers and a little hairspray if necessary.

Added the other twintail to the other side using the same method. Trimmed it. And we're almost home.

Last thing to do is Kotomi's bangs. Hers are huge. I don't really intend to make giant bangs like hers, as that would require some extra wefting and stuff. Instead, I just went with my favorite hairspray+blowdry method. I held the bangs where I wanted them, lightly hairsprayed them with some $1 hairspray and gently dried it using a blowdryer on the lowest setting. Too much heat for too long can damage the fiber, so it's best to be very careful. This method will put wigs in pretty much whatever shape you want (within reason). And now she's done. Looks kinda flat, but it's better when you wear it.

And the final product. I actually took a lot of Kotomi pictures, but I'll save that for a later post since this one is basically just a wig journal. I don't claim that this is the best way to style a Kotomi wig, or even a good way. But it's how I did it, and I think it turned out okay.

--Ou-bento

Cosplay Notes: Mion Wig (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni)

I have a confession: I buy my cosplay costumes. D: Or I make them out of basic clothing articles. But I can't sew worth anything. I do, however, style my own wigs. And since I guess other people want to do the same, I've decided to post my notes and images to help out anyone who might want it. This is actually one I styled some years back. I was planning on posting my Kotomi notes today, but I didn't actually finish styling it yet. So instead I'll post my Mion Sonozaki wig from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Mion's hair is a bizarre seafoam green color, but I was much too lazy to find the proper wig and extensions and then custom color them, so I just went for lime green. For this wig I used a shoulder length green wig and matching long silky extensions.

I put the wig over something larger than an average wig head because I planned to put it in an updo. Because of that, I had to stretch the mesh more to make room for where my very long hair will be when I actually wear the wig.

After tying the wig in a ponytail, I actually chopped off the ponytail. This is basically making a stub where the extensions will go.

I made a weft of the super long extensions using Katie Bair's wefting tutorial.

Yes, the extensions are that long. It's Mion, after all.

I caulked the stub so that it would be easier to stick stuff into. If you're confused, follow yet another helpful Katie Bair tutorial.

After both the weft and the stub were dry, I wrapped the weft around the stub. Notice that it's "backwards" so that the hair can be pulled over the white part of the weft.

The hair finally pulled over the stub. I wrapped one strand around the stub to cover the seam where they meet and hairsprayed it into place. Cheap hairspray works wonders on wigs and a light blowdry keeps everything nicely in place.


And images of the final product. I have no clue if any of this was helpful or not, but hopefully it was. My technique is still pretty rough, so I'm sure that with some skill and time you could make yours look a whole lot nicer.

--Ou-bento

Osaka Pics

Asia trip report 02: Yamatoya Honten and Doutonbori Street. I stayed at a ryokan called Yamatoya Honten. It was a beautiful and very tall building about a block away from Doutonbori Street, which made it very super convenient. It was a couple blocks away from Den Den Town, but I'll write more about that later. Yamatoya Honten provides an excellent kaiseki dinner if you order ahead, and you can also order breakfast. Amenties include an in-room bathroom and a public bathing area. The room itself is rather small, and they lay out futons for you at night. The hotel staff speaks very little English, and the hotel itself is mainly for locals. Definitely not a tourist hotel unless you have a decent grasp of Japanese language and culture or you're travelling with someone who does.

Lobby

Room

View from the window: Night edition

View from the window: Day edition

Breakfast

Taken from a bridge next to Yamatoya Honten.

Doutonbori Street at night. Strangely empty in this picture, but there were many people there. Doutonbori has lots of eating places and it seemed like a great date location. A lot of girls there were wearing yukata.

Some place with a tanuki.

Hozenji Shrine near Doutonbori.

--Ou-bento

Skip Beat! Cast

Found this posted at Anime News Network. I'm kinda surprised it slipped under my radar, since Skip Beat! is the series I'm most looking forward to this season.

The lead Kyoko has been cast to Marina Inoue, who I've only had the pleasure of hearing in a few roles (Yoko, Kana, Chiri, Eve). Her work as Kana, especially shows how suited she is to such a high-energy role.

Showbiz rival Shou will be played by Mamoru Miyano. He's been making a pretty good name for himself with lead roles like Tamaki, Light, and Death the Kid. I'm very delighted by this choice, and his voice suits the wildly popular Shou. I haven't heard him sing much though, except for some Ouran image songs, and I assume Shou's voice would be much deeper than Tamaki's.

The other two characters are voiced by people I haven't heard before (or I have, but they were really small roles). The only glaringly empty spot on the castlist now is Tsuruga Ren. With Skip Beat! airing in a couple months, I hope a site and possibly a fuller castlist are right around the corner.

--Ou-bento

Kaiseki Dinner

Asia trip report 01: Kaiseki dinner in Osaka. I spent a couple days in a ryokan in Osaka. The first night, we were served a fifteen-course kaiseki dinner. @_@ As much as this one loves food, it was a lot to take in. Pictures below.

First course was some very fresh sashimi.

Sushi made with raw beef.

Deep fried battered fish.

Being that we were in Osaka, we got to make our own takoyaki which was fun except for the part where we were all stupid and messed up a lot.

Crab and cold jelly.

Pickled vegetables. Clear broth in the black bowl and custard in the red bowl.

Dessert. Black sesame cream.

--Ou-bento

Back

I found a Gundam in Taiwan, yo. So I'm back from my Asia-hopping (Taipei, Osaka, Bacolod). Did anyone miss me? Hm...did anyone notice I was gone? XD I have a lot of anime to catch up on, but the next week will largely be trip-related posts of food, stuff I bought, and how hot the weather was.

--Ou-bento