Ayako Kawasumi announced as guest at Otakon 06

I now have a real good reason to go. A tier 1 seiyuu! Commence fanboy wanking...

As she is Navy-san. Fucking NAVY-SAN!

Oh and Mahoro, Saber, Yoshida, Ohno, and Sayuri and a bunch of other roles which were all good. We shall conveniently forget about the few shit ones because she is just that awesome to qualify for infinite pardons no matter how terrible the series.

Posted by Paranda at 12:40 AM | Comments (0)

Not human I tell you

Also, an interesting tidbit I read somewhere that I can't remember...according to a poll, 81% of Higurashi's viewers are male.

Posted by Paranda at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)

CDJapan now offers magazine subscriptions

However, I expected a somewhat better deal considering they are a fairly large establishment that could probably afford to work in some sort of deal with the publishers. Instead they'll be charging full price per issue and full shipping. With all this considered, they haven't really been able to undercut other places like Sasuga or JList - some of their deals are even worse. Megami, which I've thought about getting for a while now, is notably cheaper, but the pricetag still puts me off..which is disappointing. I have also emailed them an inquiry about getting new issues of Seiyuu Grandprix, now that the only other US supplier, Animeten is having troubles with no sign of recovery. Still, unless they add some sort of bonus for subscribing I don't think it is likely that I'll bite even for Seiyuu Grandprix. You'd think they could offer some sort of discount based on the length of your order (3 months and 1 year all sell at the same price). This is still a new service though, and has only been up for about 2 days. Maybe they'll introduce some better deals soon. Keeping my eyes open for now.

edit: Wrong category.

Posted by Paranda at 4:26 AM | Comments (0)

Momoi will be at DreamParty Osaka

Info appeared on Plug's website. Just a heads-up to PantsGoblin who I know is in the area at the time. Lucky bastard you!

Posted by Paranda at 11:38 PM | Comments (0)

I need to catch up on American TV

A few thousand dollars of merchandise later, it's time to end my phase of denial. In the past two years at college armed with regular disposable income and lots of free time, I've gradually been sucked into the dreaded lifestyle of the anime nerd, which, when I first got into the stuff, I swore would never happen. A stone's throw away from full blown otaku, I am now totally out of touch with things normal people enjoy.

This dawned on me at work during our usual pre-meeting time for idle smalltalk, when suddenly some coworkers started up a conversation about a particular TV show. As it turns out, everone was watching it except me, and so I sat there in this lively conversation twiddling my thumbs looking like the lonely outcast, hoping desperately someone would change to subject to politics or hardware or E3 or something else I knew a little about. Later, I found out this TV show was called 24.

So, determined to curb this before it becomes a real problem, this summer I plan to backtrack a bit and catch up on American television, so that at least I can hold my own on fairly general TV/cultural topics that I can better continue to hide my predominant interest in Mikuru beams, seiyuu worship, and moe analysis.

Task for May: Download and marathon all episodes of 24 aired to date. I'm actually looking forward to it though. It seems pretty good.

Also I got my grades back. It was better than I expected, but somehow taunting at the same time..as I was so close to a 4.0. Instead, I have a 3.88 for this semester. The culprit? You guessed it: B+ in Databases.

Posted by Paranda at 4:53 PM | Comments (1)

Wiiiiiiii

Just came back from NYC after visiting Nintendo World Store for their 1 year anniversary and to see the E3 live feed. It certainly got me excited about the new console, and also broke in the name for me through repeated usage. Now I can say Wii without giggling. While I'm not a huge Zelda fan (I have played the games btw), I am looking forward to some of their other games: Wii Sports, Red Steel, Excite Truck, Project Hammer, and of course the new Mario. Excite Truck will be an interesting play just for the new steering system, and Project Hammer is especially hilarious considering the concept of the game is to just walk around smashing things with a huge hammer. This system will be great.

DS is also getting StarFox which, if anything like the N64 version, will be the bestest game ever. These will all be released before the year's end, along with the new DS Lite. I start work Friday. It is time to start saving!

Some goodies from the event: Nintendo Wii pin, a very nice Nintendo pen, a Gamecube paper pad, Dogs playing NIntendogs poster, Nintendo DS keychain and strap, and a custom etching/engraving on my DS which I will be picking up later.

Posted by Paranda at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)

3 Habaneros

Posted by Paranda at 12:27 AM | Comments (1)

Major Momoi News Update

Apparently a lot of stuff happened while I've been out for exams. Now that I'm almost done with the semester, it is time for a nice cumulative update.

First, the biggest news: Nakid is gone. "Akiba-kei Queen" Halko Momoi is now under the management of newly formed Plug Entertainment. as of April 1, 2006. Apparently she has been very happy with the move, and promises more frequent updates on new website.

So far, this has been true. The new page reflects an overall step towards involving the fans. It contains much more content than Nakid, and announces all of its news as blog posts which can be tracked. They have also organized many more live events, as well as fully revamped the Fan Club for the better.

New Fanclub Details

The new fanclub fee is 1500yen admission with 3000yen annual payment.
Members receive the following benefits:

• A membership card with your name filled in by Momoi herself.
• Priority for ticket offers.
• Access to members-only events.

And more..

First of these members-only events: a fanclub kickoff celebration concert with Momoi on June 11th. Admission is 4000yen, and ticket holders will have an opportunity to request the songs performed.

Mebius Ring released at DreamParty Tokyo 2006

Momoi gave a live performance on stage today for the third year in a row at DreamParty Tokyo, a semiannual event (also held in Osaka) dedicated to erogames, cosplay, maids, and all other things of interest to Akiba-kei. Her latest single, Mebius Ring, was featured. As expected, the CD was released at this event, following the announcement made by Plug last week.

Also among the performers were MOSAIC.WAV. A full list of stage events can be found here. I will follow up on this with photos and possibly the full version of Mebius Ring as they are made available.

If you have not yet heard Mebius Ring at all, you can refer to the short version posted a few pages back.

Posted by Paranda at 7:24 PM | Comments (0)