"Akihabarabu" news

It's two days too late, but I figure I might as well update on it. Nakid badly needs to implement a mailing list so I know about these things ahead of time.

On August 29th, Nakid released CD/DVD packs of "Akihabarabu" which contained recordings of the Uchimizu event I wrote about earlier. "Akihabarabu," which is a play on words "Akihabara," the number-one Otaku district in Japan, and the "Love," was sold in extremely limited quantities on the first floor of the YamagiwaSoft shop for 1,980 yen each (holy crap that's cheap!). According to some Japanese blogs, you had to reserve a ticket to buy this with representatives on Nakid.jp first to even have a shot at buying it.

The CD single contains "Akihabarabu" in its original and karaoke version. The DVD contains 2 videos: A promotional video of the Uchimizu Taisaku Ikusa event, and a choreographed music video.

Since I entirely missed my chance of owning this in any way (I have no way of travelling to Japan anyway), and this will not be mass produced or sold in any other stores..I will be watching the P2P networks extremely closely for the following weeks in hopes that some kind soul will rip and upload this. Hopefully, I will be able to grab something and share with the rest of us American fans. This was how I managed to get my hands on the Da Capo secret concert in 04 with Momoi as Utamaru at least, so it's not entirely impossible.

In the mean time, good luck with your own Momoi hunting, and please please email me any additional details you may find about this release.

Posted by Paranda at 5:00 PM

I was a TVO kid

I was raised from in Canada from 4 until about 10 or 11, so like most young Canadians out there, I grew up with primarily two essential channels. TVO and YTV. Today, I saw the opening video for Today's Special, and it brought back many memories I thought I had lost. I want to revisit them now for my own purposes.

YTV first:

note: I wrote this while in an excited/tired state at 2:00AM, so I am in no mood to care about grammar or punctuation or whatever. I will not be proofreading this or revising, since I wrote this for myself and don't expect anyone else to actually read it.

While YTV had interesting programming, it was always the live action segments in between that were the most fun. As a child, seeing the PJs always made me happy, somehow. They were a constant. They were always there, and having fun, and they seemed to be the one absolute proof that adults could have fun lives. I had fun watching them. It didn't occur to me that they were actors or poor struggling college students trying to earn a paycheck on children's television..no I believed that they actually and truly did live in some huge treehouse, talk with puppets, and watch cartoons all day. I still remember three names: PJ Phil, PJ Jenn (who betrayed us all and jumped ship to host the saturday morining lineup on ABC!), and PJ Allison. I was also old enough to remember the much hyped "Warren Day," when that green fuzzball took over the network. Aside from those memorable live action segments, they mostly played anime, heavily edited French and American cartoons, and some other stuff that I can't remember ( There was some show about a guy named Lupin. It may have been french. It has nothing to do with the anime by Monkey Punch. There was also show about robots, and one of them was called Ninjas and he had Bruce Lee or some other guy's spirit programmed into him, and for the life of me, I can't remember the title.)

Anyway, what I wanted to get at was, while YTV was good, TVO was better because it was mostly live action, and those kinds of shows created memories that stuck with me. Later on in the 90s, they also started one of those afternoon "host" lineup thingies. There was a white woman with long brown hair, and a tall black guy with short hair or perhaps bald. I have completely forgotten their names, but I do remember them telling me everyday to "call 1-888-TVO-KIDS." It may be nostalgia talking, but I think these types of shows, along with their host-lineup format, were worlds better than the utter garbage Nickalodeon plays today. If they ever sold DVDs of these, you bet I would buy them up right away, because they were totally awesome. What the hell is today's programming? Wild Thornberries, Rugrats, CatDog, Hey Arnold? It hurts my head thinking about it.

Among the best of the best of the old TVO shows:
Join In! (Zack, Jacob, and Nikki live together in some apartment and do stuff. It was fun.)
Art Attack (This got me interested in art. In retrospect, Niel's arts and crafts projects were always impossibly hard for any 8 year old to do well..but at least he got me trying.)
Today's Special (I remember this being my favorite goddamn show on TV ever when I was 5 years old. I still remember the episode with Sam doing chinups.)
Eureeka's Castle (Nobody I know remembers this show. Nobody.)
Ghost Writer (I used to think this was good but now I realize it kind of sucks).
How do you do? (Technically not a children's show. It was actually a series designed to teach English to foreigners. But it had a cool robot who looked like the Tin Man, and the skits where he learns to be human are hilarious.)
Inquiring Minds (Yes, inquiring minds want to know.)
Lamb Chop's Play Along (I used to watch this for hours on end when I was sick, because TVO would play this for hours on end)
Pingu (coolest claymation show ever. ever. Really, no claymation has ever topped this, not even Wallace and Gromit)
The Elephant Show (The only name I can remember is Bram, but everybody on this show was cool..especially Eric, which leads us to:)
The Eric Show (I think this only lasted one season, but in the pilot episode, Eric had managed to improvse "I need to go to the bathroom" lyrics into his song that had me rolling.)
Polka Dot Door (For some reason this was always intensely interesting, but now I realize it must have been totally boring for my parents. It is definitely the kind of show you could watch on acid though; then it would be the best show ever.)

Posted by Paranda at 1:51 AM | Comments (4)

WONDER MOMOI

Today, I learned of Halko's brand new single WONDER MOMOI. Slated for release on October 19, it is yet another collaboration work between Momoi Halko and Manzo (they might as well stop beating around the bush and just officially form UNDER17 II together). The song is one of many for NAMCO's "Taiko no Tatsujin Tobikkiri! Animation Special" released earlier this month, from a series we english-speaking folk may recognize as "Taiko Drum Master!"

If you are looking to pre-order like I did, its catalogue number is COCC-15804. Happy Hunting. More details as they develop.

Posted by Paranda at 10:42 AM | Comments (1)

Majokko Tsukune-chan Vol.1 out

Well there's some good news today.

First things first: Majokko Tsukune-chan, volume 1 of an intended 6, is now on sale. The magical girl gag OVA from XEBEC, directed by Hiro Sakurai, stars our favorite voice actress in the leading role: Cute little Tsukune-chan. Story synopsis pending.

Momoi is also involved in the creation of the OVA's ending theme, hilariously titled "Frying Machine." You may download the mp3 here. Fellow Halko fan Longhorn has a nice promotional PV up on his site, so you may want to check that out.

Read more about this series and others at Starchild's website

Second bit of good news: The Bottle Fairy PC game, which we all heard about way back in March 2004, is finally announced to be released on September 9th, 2005. In this game, you basically play the role of sensei-san and bring the fairies with you on your shoulder/in your bag/up your ass while you work on daily mundane things and go places. Before you lose all faith in humanity, let me remind you it is NOT an H-game so there is no need to weep in the corner at the thought of your beloved Chiriri/Hororo being violated with Q-tips or anything like that. Heh. Too bad it costs a fucking fortune, and there is not one mention of Tama-chan in the game details. We can only hope.

Posted by Paranda at 1:26 PM | Comments (0)

A pointless list.

In an exercise of complete pointlessness, until my next Halko update..I am compiling a list of anime I have seen and need to see in the future. This list does not include movies.

I don't know why I made this. Nobody should really care about what I have watched, but I'm bored at work so here goes...

Badly Need to Watch:
1. Full Moon wo Sagashite
2. Fruits Basket
3. Mai HiME
4. Rozen Maiden
5. Cowboy Bebop (DOES THIS SURPRISE YOU THAT I HAVEN'T SEEN IT? BUT I KNOW SPIKE DIES!)
6. Last Exile
7. Hajime no Ippo

Kind of want to watch but not really willing to waste the time:
1. To Heart
2. Da Capo
3. Scrapped Princess
4. R.O.D. TV
5. Kokoro Library

Currently Watching:
1. Sousei no Aquarion (Not that great: feels way too much like an Eva knockoff. The robots and fights are cool as hell though.)
2. Gokujou Seitokai (I am laughing.)
3. Honey and Clover (So far so good.)
4. He is My Master (I enjoy torturing myself, so this will be my instrument of torture for this season.)
5. Kamichu! (Interesting.)
6. Ichigo Mashimaro (ADTRW is a bad influence. I should not be watching this.)
7. Yakitate! Japan (Absolutely hilarious. Still funny even though I already read the manga)
8. Damekko Doubutsu (I enjoy weird/cute shows, and this is weird AND cute.)
9. Galaxy Angel (Multiple seasons. Ongoing)
10. Gundam SEED (I just started.)
11. Kingyou Chuuihou (The episodes are coming out slowly , but I will definitely finish this.)

In Limbo:
1. Tsukuyomi (Stuck on episode 8 from Sugar-Cube. Oh god is it so hard to sub this? Somebody please finishs subbing so I can get on with it. Don't make me jump ship to mahou.)
2. Sensei no Ojikan (See above. Both groups stopped subbing, what the hell?)
3. Slam Dunk(Watched 8 episodes. I am still trying to get the rest of it.)
4. Akahori Gedou Hour Love-Game (Watched one episode for Momoi. I probably would watch more if I could find episodes.)
5. Ichigeki Sacchu! Hoihoi-san (Does anybody know what happened to this?)
6. Onegai My Melody No idea what happeend to this either.

Aborted:
1. Pretty Cure (Aborted on episode 3. This show sucks.)
2. Bobobo Bobobobo (Aborted on episode 4. They are trying waayyy too hard to be ZANY and WACKY. LOL!!1!1)
3. Kiddy Grade (Episode 2.)
4. Tenchi Muyo (Episode 4. I tried to like this. I really did.)
5. Marimite (Episode 3. Too boring.)
6. Di Gi Charat Nyo (Episode 1. Let's not tarnish the awesome memory of the original Di Gi Charat ok? Also, I don't like Piyoko.)
7. Tekkaman (Tried a few episodes. No major flaws, but it's nothing special and I just don't have the willpower to watch a long show like this unless I see a point to it.)

Finished (in reverse chronological order):
1. Mahoraba Heartful Days (This is so fucking good. Watch this, please.)
2. Ah! My Goddess TV (I enjoyed it. Not for everyone. Mostly watched this for Ikue Ohtani.)
2. Victorian Romance Emma (Not bad. Eleanor got shafted though so I feel bad.)
3. Haibane Renmei (Oh, Reki.)
4. Tsukihime (Oh, Arcueid.)
5. Genshiken (with Kujibiki Unbalance) (This is a very interesting series about otaku life. Also, based on the 3 OVAs..I wish Kujian was real.)
6. 2x2=Shinobuden (Kind of funny but ultimately a waste of time.)
7. DearS (Watched for Love Slave and melon bread. Ren is kind of cute but the slave complex is too creepy.)
8. Ragnarok Online (Watched for Maya)
9. Samurai Seven (It definitly doesn't do justice to the film, but hey it's watchable.)
10. Gokusen (I like this. Very amusing.)
11. Yumeria (My tradition of watching shows based on bishi-games must be upheld. Thankfully, this one was not so bad)
12. Hand Maid May (Cute.)
13. Stellva of the Universe (Space-age Harry Potter. It's actually a lot of fun, and introduced me to Angela)
14. Aishiteruze Baby (One of my favorites. Yuzuyu is cute.)
15. Dogtato (Awesome. It's ALL about Croconion.)
16. Kono Minikuku Mo Utsukushii Sekai (I came in expecting this to be Mahoromatic 3, but I ended up with 'suck' instead.)
17. Dokkoider (One of my favorites. Very interesting premise.)
18. Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magikarte (Great parody. Also: Momoi, Momoi, Momoi.)
19. Bottle Fairy (This is the cutest show that has ever existed in the history of cute things. I have had several cute-induced heartattacks while watching this.)
20. Di Gi Charat
21. Onegai Twins (OMG THEY MIGHT BE RELATED, BUT THEY MIGHT NOT BE! If it weren't for the OP/ED this series would have no redeeming qualities whatsoever.)
22. Sister Princess (Sucks. Also, Horie Yui's character is really really creepy so even she couldn't save this series.)
23. Ikkitousen (Why on earth did I think watching this was a good idea?)
24. Kare Kano (I remember I did not like this while I was watching it..but somehow I seem to have good memories about it.)
25. Mahoromatic 1 & 2 (An overall great show that was ruined by the horrible GAINAX^TM ending.
26. Onegai Teacher (A nice feel-good show. Plus I discovered KOTOKO through this..)
27. Azumanga Daioh (Kagura fanboy for life. Osaka is okay too, but nothing can compete with swimsuit tan.)
28. Excel Saga (I did not find this funny. I may have been too much of an anime newbie back then to get it..but I have no intention of trying again.)
29. Popotan (Hey the actress for Mii sounds pretty cute. I also like the OP song. I wonder who she is?)
30. Chobits (I must be the one guy in the entire world who doesn't hate Chobits)
31. Love Hina (Irritating. Also, if you want to watch a story about lots of girls living with a guy in a communal house that doesn't suck, Mahoraba is the way to go.)
32. Gundam Wing (I hated this show. Being my first series, it turned me off from Gundam for years and years.)
33. Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (Made me realize Gundam might not be such a shitty series after all.)
34. Evangelion (Attractive character designs. Terrible story. The end made no sense whatsoever and Shinji is a whiny faggot.)
35. Dragon Ball Z & GT (Contrary to public opinion, I LIKE the speed 4-frame fight animations and constant disappearing/reappearing tricks. Although they may have been methods to save on animation and due to budget constraints, I think they accidentally pioneered a new field in "crazy god fighting styles." Let's not get into story. If you watch DBZ for story you are an idiot.)
36. Sailor Moon (Saw this when I was a wee boy, and when you're little..this is a great show. I also thought Tuxedo Mask was cool back then. Actually I probably still think this on the subconscious level [not gay].)

Famous series that I will probably never watch:
1. Inuyasha (I have no idea what this show is about or if it's good, but I hold a grudge against the insane "in your face" fans so I refuse to watch this out of spite.)
2. Rurouni Kenshin (I have no desire to start even though I know I should see this. But I can't force myself through this "just for the heck of it"...since it's way too long.)
3. Escaflowne (No desire to watch.)
4. Full Metal Alchemist (Too long..too huge to download..too many volumes to buy..and I don't have Cartoon Network)
5. Naruto (I am already reading the manga because catching up to the show would take FOREVER if I started now)
6. Hikaru no Go (Series was too long so I read manga instead.)
7. Ranma 1/2 (Too long. Also, Rumiko Takahashi has enough money there is no need for me to give her any more.)
8. GTO (Too long. Read manga instead.)
9. Trigun
10. Hellsing

Posted by Paranda at 10:30 AM | Comments (2)

Here we are

BLOGGING LIVE FROM..[MY HOUSE], WHEN I SHOULD BE IN..[BALTIMORE]. PLANS FELL THROUGH. DON'T BE AN IDIOT LIKE ME. HAVE BACKUP DRIVERS!

Posted by Paranda at 12:34 AM | Comments (0)

Spending problem

I just bought $300 worth of figures from eBay and CDJapan. Help me! HELP!!!!

Oh, I also got my Perfect Grade MS06 Char Zaku, and it is FRIKKIN HUGE!

Posted by Paranda at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)

Practice with the pen tool

Having been too poor to buy and too paranoid/lazy to pirate Adobe Illustrator for personal use, I was thrilled to discover it pre-installed on my work machine a few days ago. Since it was a particularly slow week with very little work, I decided to have a go at vector tracing..something I've watched others do all the time but have never done myself. Now it was my turn.

And it was much harder than it looked. Apparently, Illustrator handles lines MUCH differently than Macromedia flash and I spent the majority of the time trying to figure out how to point anchors and pull directions exactly, instead of just dragging the line directly like I do in Flash. It was hell the first days, but eventually I started getting used to it. My first attempt was, mostly obviously, a trace of my favorite Momoi picture. I am not too satisfied with it, but I will try again with my next picture. I will probably also redo this image in the future when I actually become an expert with Illustrator. Eventually I hope to build up a nice collection of 1600x1200 vector wallpapers for personal use. Meanwhile, I shall make do with this.

Posted by Paranda at 1:39 AM | Comments (0)

Annual Stash Inventory

It's time once again to make preparations for mass shopping in the dealer room at Otakon next weekend, and to do this, I am taking my annual stash inventory to see what I have and don't have. I also took some pictures to show off before I started counting, because I think my room is pretty cool for an anime fag such as myself. I realize there are quite of few people who could probably outdo me, but this is only the second year I've had any sort of income. Oh yes, I fully intend to catch up with the masters. It'll be fun...so long as I never have to invite anybody other than me inside it. Or it's figures/poster hiding time. And that would be a big pain.

Onward with pics.

My pretty Chii walls. I used to like Chobits a lot. I don't anymore, but the posters are still nice. No I did not do disgusting things with my Puchiko pillow. As you can see, it is still in the case to prevent dust. I value my collection. I wish I got a Dejiko instead though. I made up for it with a tiny Dejiko plushy on my door.

My prized shelf. Room is limited, so I have been forced to stack a couple of things. They definitely deserve their own row. But I can't buy a new shelf because I always use my money to buy more figures and manga.

More things that I couldn't find a place to put. It's such a shame they have to stay in boxes. There is plenty of stuff left to use to decorate. When I get a bigger room, I know what I'm doing.

Posted by Paranda at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)

Thugging out with DJ Momo-i

Ha. Before you kill me for that horrible horrible title, let me assure you: I am not being kidding. I offer this photo as evidence.

As you can see, she has been quite the busy bee lately. Clothingwise, I think I've seen more variety in her wardrobe these few months than during her entire three year run with UNDER17. Personally, if my ideal Momoi tried to go "hip," we'd see some cute knitted-cap action, but hay a baseball cap is almost as cool.

In these photos, "DJ Momo-i" is doing a show for Uchimizu Taisaku Ikusa 2005 in Akihabara. According to www.uchimizu.jp, uchimizu is an organized effort in Japan to combat global warming. Supposedly, when you get a lot of people to collect water and pour it onto the roads or whatever, you can make the summer heat go away. However, there is also music, cosplay, and anime involved. Why? Because in Akihabara, everything is an excuse to involve music, cosplay, and anime. Never ever hold a funeral there.

While I'm not sure what Momoi's exact role is in this whole festival (other than DJ, obviously), a quick blurb from nakid.jp tells us about some collaboration with Perfume to promote some anime. There is plenty of information on geek's blog about this whole thing, but sadly my comprehension is shit and I have no idea what he/she/they are saying. There are a LOT of nice pictures though (the pics I have here are just cropped versions of the huge full ones there), so it's worth browsing. For now, that's all that really matters. This event only took place hours ago, and hopefully I will have some more information about it in the following days as I read through that site a bit more thoroughly. Meanwhile, here is Momoi, oops sorry I mean "DJ Momo-i," saluting her loyal otaku drones.

Seeing those headphones wrapped around her ninja style is so funny. Now I want to see Momoi go full blown commando, complete with kevlar bodysuit and balaclava. At this rate, maybe one day I will. Meanwhile, I shall keep myself amused with this:

XD. In other news, Sukumizu 2 just became available for pre-order. Release is slated for September 22, 2005. There is no cover art yet on any of the sites I've checked, but I will keep up the watch for english speaking Momoi fans out there :)

Posted by Paranda at 4:46 PM

Komugi Magikarte Z, vol. 2 confirmed

We can all breathe easy now. After many months of waiting and worst-case-scenario speculation, I see that the release date is finally announced. Volume 2 of Komugi Magikarte Z, the sequel OVA series to the successful 5.5-episode "Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magikarte," will be on sale September 22. The limited edition DVD will retail for 6090yen and contain a new episode, along with a booklet and CD as bonuses. It is possible that sneak a figure in too, considering they have done this in the past.

According to the official Komugi fansite, MugiMugi.com, the episode will be broadcasted first on AnimeTV on August 20th at midnight.

Both Komugi series, with characters taken from another popular anime called "The Soultaker," revolve around Komugi Nakahara, a young cosplay idol who is granted magical powers to transform into a fighting nurse/witch. They are complete departures from the "serious" mood of their parent anime, and instead opt for more ridiculous plot points and parodies. Episodes feature cosplay battles between Komugi, large-breasted maids, convention centers turned giant robots, 2ch ascii art, overweight anime producers gone pro-wrestling, and other similarly odd enemies. Notable voice talent include Halko Momoi (do I have to explain who she is?) as Komugi, Yuji Ueda (the guy who's in everything) as her fluffy sidekick, and Ikue Ohtani (She's Pikachu ya know?) as rival Koyori. The character designs are by Poyoyon Rock (Akio Watanabe), who had reportedly modeled Komugi specifically after Momoi.

Stateside, ADVFilms has licensed both Soultaker and Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magikarte. Magikarte Z has yet to be picked up by any company here. Hopefully we will see some news soon. Meanwhile, I will be out another 60bux ;_;

Posted by Paranda at 1:09 AM | Comments (0)