As expected, Wonder Momo-i Live tour DVD is on sale.

Thanks to an email notification from CDJapan, I am now aware that it is up for pre-order with release date set for March 29, 2006. Given all the exposure, it was bound to be released through a big distributor like this sooner or later. Apparently "Express" is officially part of the name. Coincidentally, I actually ended up buying a used copy that was sold earlier at Comiket since I didn't have much patience, and I am expecting it to arrive within the week. If only I had received this notification earlier I could have saved some money!

Oh well, at least I'll be able to post a nice preview ahead of time then :) Now I must decide if I want to buy a second sealed copy for archival purposes..because who knows what extra goodies they might include with a pre-order?

Posted by Paranda at 9:39 AM | Comments (5)

ARIA is the best anime on TV right now.

After episode 12, I feel as if Aria would fit perfectly as the product of a future government's propaganda attempting to lure settlers to Mars and enslave them as laborers for the terraformation movement - because it's just that damn good. We viewers are used to sci-fi plots about utopian societies with dark sides, gone horribly wrong. Then there's Aria, which is just one big happy utopian society gone..well..incredibly right. So why not come to Aqua and spend your life building bridges or something for the advancement of humanity? I know I would.

Posted by Paranda at 12:53 AM | Comments (0)

Lost in Blue is too hard for a kids' game.

So I bought Animal Crossing and Lost in Blue yesterday because it's that time of month when I give in to temptation regardless of cash and expand my game collection. I started out with LiB first because I figured an adventure game would be a bit shorter, especially since I am way beyond their target age; I also know Animal Crossing is one of those games that you can sink in zillions of hours without realizing. 17 hours later, I am now on day 30 of Lost in Blue. Turns out the game is *&$&*&@^# HARD!

In the game, you are Keith, a young guy who gets shipwrecked and stranded on an island. You must then use various skills (such as pressing L and R alternatingly, or blowing into the microphone) to ensure your and a fellow strandee's survival! Following my time honored gaming tradition of "not reading the manual and letting the game tutorial teach me" I discovered there was no tutorial - no easy mode to get out of before going into the real thing. I died before even reaching the second day. Soon after, the gameplay was a mad rush of attempting to stay alive. I didn't even have time to advance any story, because I was timing and plotting my movements so exactly as to prevent death. Exploring was pretty much suicide as it wasted too much time, and I spent my precious daylight hours collecting coconuts. Eventually, I was doing pretty well with a backpack full of coconuts, a cave to sleep in, and fairly stable vitals. Then the game throws your accomplishments out the window by forcing you to make long journeys away from the safety of your cave. One day of exploring goes through a backpack full of coconuts like it was nothing, and when you come back you don't have any food to eat. So, the day went: wake, collect coconuts, eat coconuts, sleep. It took a VERY long time to get out of this cycle.

Now on day 20, I have bows, arrows, spears, fishing poles, makeshift beds, shelves, and other things. I've become too good for coconuts, and now I eat fish and deer meat. Surviving has gotten much easier, somewhat like real life - you get stranded and in horrible condition, but if you can make it past the torture days, over time you can adapt. Still there is very little time allowed to explore own, as you are CONSTANTLY occupied with basic necessities. My next task is to collect enough logs to build a raft across some lake I discovered, and let me tell you..if you're an obsessive collector or you tend to overlevel your guys in RPGs, this game will be hell for you..and if you're not? Then you can't beat the game. I absolutely refused to make progress unless all my shelves were stocked with the highest quality fish, my weapons were the highest quality material, and my health vitals were all 100% - I figured I was going the extra mile..a power gamer compared to the younger kids who would be playing this game. Even with that attitude, I still only barely managed to succeed in my earliest tasks.

And yet..it's fun as hell for some reason I can' t understand. As a Civiliation and Sim City player, as well as mudder, I suppose I've become used to super-repetitive tasks in games that build on abilities and camps. Every time I add something to my cave, the feeling of success is just so good. But as far as my expectations go, this went the other direction. I wanted a "stress-free kids game" that I could just breeze through for a bit of fun and a story. This was an incredibly slow game. It may not be "hard" in the traditional sense, but the sheer amount of time and patience and repetition required can wear down anyone. I can definitely see how this game could suck with a slightly different mindset. Don't buy this unless you equate frustration with fun. Like me :)

Heh, I don't even know when I'm going to get started on Animal Crossing.

Posted by Paranda at 11:18 PM | Comments (0)

Latest impressions on current shows

Here are some various musings on things that I am watching: Some of this stuff has already been out for a while, but I only got around to seeing it this week. This is because the new semester started Tuesday and I magically seem to have MORE free time during the weeks when I have classes than when I don't.

I think it's some sort of strange psychological issue, in which I make better use of my personal time and get more shows watched when it's perceived as more rare, in contrast to wasting large amounts of idle time during my vacation sitting and staring at walls.

Before I start, I would just like to wish luck to Ikue Ohtani who is now reported as pregnant, not sick (misunderstanding on ANN's part). Imagine having Pikachu as your mom. And..that kid better be ubercute to compete with that.

Now--

Rozen Maiden Traumend - We are nearing the end with episode 10. GODDAMMIT HINA ICHIGO! YOU WERE LIKE A DAUGHTER TO ME! WHYYYYY?? Tearjerker level: high. Do not watch in company of others if wanting to be perceived as tough guy.

Shakugan no Shana - Episode 14: Hey I was cheated out of a KOTOKO opening. What happened to that? Maybe next episode. Also, Wilhelmina is awesome and needs to go berserk so we can see her destroy Tomogara like she was meant to..on a "ripping arms out of sockets and beating lifeless bodies with their limbs" scale, like Eva.

Yakitate! Japan - Episode 52: One of the best reactions ever. Having read the manga, I knew it was coming and I was still blown away. Pierrot is just so great, HE WENT BACK IN TIME AND ALTERED THE COURSE OF HISTORY BECAUSE HE ATE A FRIED DONUT! Ridiculous moments like these make the show worth watching.

Aria: 11 is the best episode so far, now with a direct acknowledgement that yes, Akari, Aika, and Alice are the next Alicia, Akira, and Athena. Ah, the continuation of a legacy..watching Aria is therapeutic.

Fate Stay Night - Episode 2: There is a surprising lack of action unfortunately, with most fighting consisting of closeup shots of people charging at eachother. Having played the demo translated by the folks at insani.org, I was hoping the show would capture the pure intensity of the Archer vs. Lancer battle described. Instead it was reduced to a very minor thing. Still, I am mostly satisfied with the way it is being handled, and the show continues to capture my interest. There is also top notch voice acting, and some creative dialogue (although this may or may not be credited to Eclipse's subbing).

Canvas 2 - Episode 14: Kiri is a ho; switching alliance to Elise. Sorry Hitomi. :( Actually I shouldn't joke about this because it might happen. I just have misplaced anger. It's really because of that new guy. He seriously needs to get his knees busted and thrown in a river. Fessing up to previous crimes and then leaving does not fulfill my bloodlust. Redemption is too cheap, I want to see some cold blooded revenge here. Art stealing is BAD okay?

Shuffle - Final episode - An excellent ending to a series that completely surpassed my expectations as far as harem genre goes. Also one of the few times where I correctly called the winning girl. Yay Asa. Now if they'll just make a sequel featuring Primula, who has grown on me in these last few episodes.

To Heart 2 - Episode 5: Karin Sasamori is now my second favorite character in this series, because of the Tamago Sandwich song.

Viewing schedule for Tomorrow:
Yesterday's episode of Smallville - not anime.
Fate Stay Night 3 (hopefully if it's subbed by then)
Ah My Goddess 25 & 26.
Tonight's WWE Smackdown (only because Angle signed on) - not anime.

Posted by Paranda at 10:57 AM

Fate-Stay Night Episode 1

Watched this over the weekend thanks to Eclipse's ridiculously fast subbing efforts. There have been some mixed reactions by various people on the net (possibly due to hyped up expectations) about the slowness of the first episode, but I can say I solidly enjoyed it. Like Tsukihime, Type-Moon always gives their main protagonist cool as hell unique powers. For Shiki, "being able to see and cut the strands of existence" was one of the neatest and most original concepts I had personally seen in anime, and it was executed excellently. In Fate, Shirou has the power to mentally map the complete internal structure of any item he touches. That also has a lot of potential for a lot of coolness as well. I agree Taiga-sensei's antics feel slightly out of place in this mostly serious backstory episode, but I think the biggest negative reaction was due to the fact that everyone simply expected Saber, Lancer, Archer, Beserker, Rider, and Caster to pop up out of nowhere and kill the shit out of eachother right away for an action packed bloodfest in episode one. I'd say that's being a bit impatient. Fate WILL get to the good parts soon..and by soon I mean the next episode if you realized to watch the next-episode previews.

Posted by Paranda at 8:14 PM | Comments (0)

Newegg apparently has a warehouse 40 miles from my house.

I just ordered some RAM for my new laptop two days ago, my credit card validated it yesterday, and it arrived today. Checked with UPS tracking and shipping and delivering the order took them 3 hours. This is with the cheapest slowest shipping choice selected.

Frikkin' awesome.

Posted by Paranda at 12:02 AM | Comments (0)

We love Space Akiba-Pop

Technically not Halko news, but it's time see what Koike's been up to, as we haven't heard from him in a while. As you may or may not know, Masaya Koike (Aniki of UNDER17) recently teamed up with dempa-song duo MOSAIC.WAV and is featured as a guest artist on their brand new album, Space Akiba-Pop, contributing his arrangement and guitar skills to several songs. Sold in limited quantities earlier last week at Comiket 69 and with a street date release of January 20th, it has surprisingly found its way onto the Internet, allowing us commoners an early listen. I express surprise only because this album seems to be getting more coverage (aside from the usual Japanese P2P sources, two IRC groups have also released mp3 versions through torrent sites) than MOSAIC.WAV's previous album "We Love Akiba-Pop" which cannot be found anywhere online as far as I know or cared to search for.

MOSAIC.WAV consists of MI-KO on vocals and Susumu Kayamori on keyboard, veterans to the dempa* song business. They work for Sham Studio. Space Akiba-Pop is their second full length album released to date. On this album are all the familiar electronic beats and MI-KO's adorable vocals and cheerleader-esque choruses. It clearly does not disappoint with respect to the first album, with tracks like "Space! Wave! Akiba-Pop" being just as addictive as its predecessor song...or even the cover art, this time an illustration by master-of-cute artist Poyoyon Rock. Plus it has Koike and we know what he can do! With KOTOKO now firmly in the "rock/pop" genre of music and no signs of turning back, we desperately needed another top-tier moe song performer to fill her gap. MOSAIC.WAV was a worthy claimant to this position for quite some time, and their second release now cements their long-term establishment in this field.

If you question my judgment being blurred by my obessions with UNDER17, let me state that I was a MOSAIC.WAV fan even prior to Koike's involvement with them. Not to take away from him or anything, but this album would have received my full endorsement regardless of its ties to the former UNDER17 member. I strongly suggest checking this out if you are a moe song fan like me and have not already heard of this group. Samples of some songs may be found freely available for download on their studio page, but if you plan on buying the CDs anyway (or are feeling particularly unethical) I suppose you could also hunt down the previously mentioned rips on P2P. I need more listening time on the new album to make an accurate recommendation for the new songs, but I can confidently push my old favorites like the original "We Love Akiba-Pop" and "Futsu no Uta." You can't go wrong with these.

* Someone correct me on this, but I believe dempa song is the original term for moe songs - UNDER17 has been credited with coining the word "moe song" according to an article on Excite which has now largely replaced dempa song in usage. The two terms can still be used interchangeably however (with exception to mature content), it appears MOSAIC.WAV has chosen to stick to the older term for consistency.

Posted by Paranda at 8:01 PM

DVD Updates

Happy New Year.
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It appears that Wonder Momo-i Live tour Final Express DVD has already been shipped and sold through email and Comic Market 69, and I have seen some photos of the goods in various Japanese blogs which simply makes me more anxious. I am still hoping for a wider release through a major distributor but I am not so sure of the chances now. Maybe the "Express" indicates a premature release while the final product is further polished for mass distribution? I am not so clear on the meaning of the name, so this is baseless conjecture. In any case, I may break down and pay crazy commissions through a middle-man service if there is no new information this month. I don't plan to let this escape like the Akihabalove DVDs.

Also, there is a planned album release this year. This will be the first album Halko Momoi has released since UNDER17's breakup. The tracklist will likely be similar to the song lineup on the Wonder Momoi tour, so let's look forward to that.

Posted by Paranda at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)