Read or Die OVA

My first immersion into ROD was through its manga, where a couple months ago I picked up the first few volumes off the shelves of my local bookstore Chapters. I’ve read up to volume three, and it has so far been an enjoyable read. I currently await volume four that just shipped yesterday. I eventually discovered that ROD also exists in the form of an OVA and as a TV series. With a few queries online about their quality, the OVA garnered more consistent praises, while the TV series had more mixed opinions. So I decided to check out the OVA first, and the DVD arrived at my door earlier than expected (always a good thing). That was about a week ago, and subsequently I soon finished viewing its three episodes.
The OVA presents a totally different story than the manga, but the main characters remains approximately the same. The OVA Yomiko Readman is a bit more childish than my image of her constructed from the manga. Her pleas for her book reminds me of a little kid begging the return of a cherished toy. Except this kid has the power to control paper, with deadly results. But in either iteration, she is still a character defined by her obsession, which is key to my liking of her character. And Joker has lost some of his conceited coolness that he possesses perpetually and unwaveringly in the manga. Anyways, it was a great watch. It has enough action sequences to keep the interest of the most adrenaline filled viewers, and the friendship between The Paper and Miss Deep adds emotional depth to the show. Finally, the high technical qualities (fluid animation, stylish and fitting music) rounds out its achievements, making the ROD OVA an excellent piece of entertainment.

Tonagura! after episode 08

Brief synopsis: Kazuki happened to break the school record in swimming that was held by her older sister Hatsune. The school media and Hatsune pushed a swimming battle that Kazuki did not want. In the end, Kazuki remains the victor.
An episode more focused on the Arisaka sisters. I have to wonder about Hatsune’s motives behind her strong determination to challenge and defeat Kazuki. In a school interview, Hatsune said publicly that her aim was to humble Kazuki, but from the previous episodes, Kazuki has shown that she is not one that tends to brag. Which leads me to believe that Hatsune may be at least partially operating on a different intent: to protect her immaculate image that was shown last episode. If so, it would be a dark taint on her otherwise angelic character. But she still remains the star of the show. Her elder female charms and wisdom serves as a pillar of physical and mental support for our protagonists. And, of course, her ara aras, uttered with the same voice and tone as Alicia of ARIA, as both of them share the same seiyuu (Ohara Sayaka). A curious observation I noticed, Hastune is the only female high school student wearing a long skirt, while the rest of the high school girls are wearing short skirts.
It is clear that the only virtue that Yuuji has is his good memory, or more specifically, his memories of Kazuki and their past experiences. The series has played upon this fact many times over episodes, including this one, where he remembered her favorite color was green and Kazuki was thusly impressed. It is this advantage, that elevates him not only to be a candidate, but to be the contender for Kazuki. Otherwise without it, he would be a pitiful recommendation among other males that probably have personalities or qualities better suited for Kazuki. Such is the power of the childhood friend. Then the path to their successful romantic relationship lies on a prevailing technique: compromise. While Yuuji needs to exert more control over his adolescent hormones, Kazuki must understand that boys will be boys (which Hatsune certainly comprehends), and become a bit less uptight, although not necessarily as promiscuous Chihaya. If the show is working on them to become a couple, then somehow this conflict must be addressed.

Tanyuu, if you were

Tanyuu, if you were
My friend, then you would be my best, and I would confide my most clandestine secrets to you.
My sister, then I would be your guardian, and I would protect you with all my might and soul.
My boss, then I would revere you, and your wish would be my command.
My servant, then you would be the freest, and I would serve you instead.
A bum, then I would throw my wallet and keys into your cup, and donate all my worldly possessions to you.
A demon, then I would convert, and I would break all religious rules just to see you. Heaven would be hell, and hell would be heaven.
Etcetera…
Now you understand why the following three words are so woefully inadequate, and pales in comparison:
I lo…

I have presented this shamelessly expressing poem once before, but it was recited in 4chan, where these lines disappeared like a sparkle of evaporating electricity in cyberspace within a day. So from memory, I decided to rewrite it here where it will have more permanence, with a few minor changes in descriptive words. I am also the author of the vector image of Tanyuu that accompanies this poem. My reasons for creating this vector, and first presentation is given here. For those of you who do not recognize her, she is from an anecdote in an anime and manga series called Mushishi, a transcendent and profound experience. Perhaps the picture will help one comprehend my appreciation for this character. For some intangible reason, I cannot complete those final words. There is something within my very being, latent, until I trespass onto that phrase, where its immense strength shows itself and seizes hold of my body, as if to prevent me from making a catastrophic mistake. What mistake?

LAN parties

With everyone in a particular group of my friends preparing to return to the throes of post-secondary education within a week or two, we have hosted the last LAN party of the summer as a final get-together event. I was away for the whole day attending this LAN party that started approximately from 10AM, and ended around 10PM. We have had many LAN parties over the summer, winter vacations, and on the occasional holidays or weekends for the past few years. It is an event where within this group of friend we congregate ourselves and our computers and game the day away. Most of our LAN parties are hosted by a particular friend (who lives on campus when classes are in session), who’s house has a cool basement to house our activities, and a nice mother that always cooks lunch and dinner for us. Unfortunately, while my friends all live within minutes of each other, I live an hour of driving away from them. So it is a bit more weary and costly (damn the high gas prices) for me to meet with my friends in general, but it is always well worth it for a LAN party. Our roster of games includes Unreal Tournament 2004, Starcraft: Brood Wars, Garry’s Mod, SWAT 4, Battlefield 1942, Rise of Nations, in the order of most played, and there are the occasional games we have only tried once or twice. We always play with the philosophy to include as many people as we can while playing, almost all the time we have everyone playing one game together at the same time. Thus, highly demanding games such as Battlefield 2 that cannot run on some other person’s feeble laptop, or whatever reason/glitches that prevents the game’s proper working on all the computers, are omitted. There is something extremely satisfying in knowing that if you get killed in a game, you can exact revenge by simply walking up to the aggravator, and laying a smack over the back of the person’s head. But this just one of many enjoyable quirks arising from the features of a LAN party: its social climate, the intimate interactions, and the bonding of friends are reasons why I believe we will be LANing for years to come. Good times.

Coyote Ragtime Show after episode 07

Some unmistakable character artwork inconsistency on Angelica, especially of her facial appearence. Here’s her mug in the last episode, and here’s her mug in episode 07. Also, it appears she has lost some weight as well, as her stature looks slimmer in episode 07 than she is in episode 06. Despite that, at least I find the “new” Angelica to be more attractive than her original design. By the end of the episode, Marciano and three sisters February, March, and July, in four little spacefighter ships, destroyed one battleship, and twelve spacecruisers, with unbelievable ease receiving nary a scatch. I can understand that there are people who are turned off by the show being overly unrealistic, demanding too much of our suspension of disbelief. As for me, I treat this show like a conventional Hollywood movie. The plans of episode 04 and 05 reminded me a bit of Mission Impossible, although no where near as elegant. And episode 06 and 07 shared the same stereotype that Rambo thrives on, where the “protagonists” has everything going for them: accuracy approaching perfection, incredible luck, inhuman physical strength and stamina..etc, while oppositely, the “antagonists” are cursed. “Protagonists” and “antagonists” and in quotation because it changes depending on situation. In the case of episode 07, Marciano was the former, and Hunter Bennett the latter. The Rambos series happen to be a guilty pleasure of mine. So if you’ll excuse me, I shall continue watching the Coyote Ragtime Show with a beer in one hand and peanuts in the other (the way of viewing I initially felt from the title), and just watch the “good” guys win.