We've moved! Go here now for all our new stuff. Since Blogger looks lame. Purely for the lulz, I might do something here since this blog has been around for a long time.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Toward The Terra DVD 1&2, or pretty boys in SPAAACE!



So, I had gone to the Anime Store intending to buy Gurren Lagann. But it was sold out, so instead of going home with a series of manliness, exhibiting Giant Robot drills, I instead found myself with the anime adaptation of a 70’s Shoujo series by Keiko Takemiya. Keiko Takemiya is somewhat of an Mangaka from what I’ve seen. I don’t think I’ve read anything by her which didn’t involve Boy Love, incest or worse. The last thing I saw from her, unfortunately, was the OAV Kaze to Ki no Uta, which involves the most disturbing rape scene EVER!

Oh damn, I’m off topic again, where was I? Oh yeah pretty boys in space. Toward the Terra is a pretty straightforward remake of the original manga. The story is as follows. The earth , or terra, has become polluted and human life is no longer sustainable. Humanity has left for the stars and is ruled by a supercomputer called Mother. There are rebellions towards the supercomputer, mainly a group of physics who have been persecuted by humans. By today’s standards this is the kind of Sci-Fi we’ve seen done before, so the real question is – is it done well?

This anime is a fairly straightforward adaptation of the manga. But basing a 26 episode series of a three volume manga demands some that some things must be stretched out. In these 8 episodes I watched there were some liberties taken. New characters have been added, relationships have been fleshed out and some new events have been added. Compared to the earlier anime adaptation this version is far less rushed .If I had to criticise it, at points it does feel kinda slow, which makes me all the more glad Bandai is releasing this series in 8 episode sets. The animation also drops in quality considerably around episode 6 with some very jerky movements and off model shots.

To Terra is often accused of being Shounen-Ai. This isn’t exactly right. For the most part To Terra is straightforward Science Fiction. It’s easy to forgive people for thinking this, though. Keiko Takemiya is one of the pioneers of the BL genre and the implications are obviously there. Along with the pretty boy character designs, the BL implications are probably one of the main reasons this series is as popular as it is. But if you’re willing to look deeper this is a Sci-Fi series with some great drama and character designs. No it’s not manly, and it might be little slow for some, but if your looking for some hard sci-fi, this may be for you.



Whew, can’t wait to see how tissuekins reacts to this.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Fashionably Late

I'm here at last. Probably slightly behind Miss M. as the most sane of the group. Though AgentQ did describe me as perverse which is always good.

What I think Area Graruru is!

AG is the embodiment of our journey to enlightenment through manliness!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Sam, Mike and Mary: The Area Graruru Extravaganza!



While the reader may think that they were safe since the policy episode, things have changed! While nothing interesting happened in today's episode, listen to it anyways! It's mostly just stuff my band of bloggers already know. Actually it's mostly just a little something that was put together for the AG listener (a.k.a. the host). It's difficult to explain, so folks will just have to listen for themselves...

right click save as to download mp3.

right click save as to download ogg.




Anyways, the suit just came back from the dry cleaners. It will see some more action in the upcoming week. The dry cleaner will have a hell of a time getting all the blood out from the debaters! However, they'll probably spend more time getting a dead corpse out of it first.

The music featured in this episode are:

"Chocolate Rain" by Tay Zonday (never again!)
"Moon Strobe" by Tripudio
flippant from Marathon
And the Marathon 3: Infinity Theme

Go play Marathon!

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Huzzah? Area Graruru? Whuzzat?

I think Area Graruru's meaning is best summarized by this:

Miss M

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

what I think AG is

I think graruru is some crazy kid's podcast about stuff he thinks is important
but dioesn't have a form yet like water I've just compared you to bruce lee! ATA!

Resident evil 4- “why I hate this fucking game”

Now, I’m not a big video game guy, I know what I like, I like things that explodes, women and gun fire (a perfect present would be a mine throwing gun-firing deathdroid that can also serve other “ahem” needs, but that’s beside the point). Now I actually like resident evil 4, it’s awesome, cause it asks you a question every true man comes across in his life “are you a bad enough dude to save the president’s totally hot daughter?” And the answer is a residing yes. That is, if you play normal mode, where you can basically knife some Spanish people in the face for half the game, shoot leather face rip-offs and knife more Spaniards in the face. Now, you ask ‘but my manly man bro tissuekins, why do you hate this game. There’s the pres’ daughter, you with a suitcase of weaponry, and a bunch of (Spanish) people to kill, shouldn’t you be glad? Thankful to the gods that Capcom has given you a chance to shoot some poor parasite infected farmer in the face with an antique gun? Or even a gun that shoots modified mine darts?” I say hither unto thee that yes, it is all good, IF YOU CAN FUCKING BEAT IT ON PREOFESSIONAL MODE. Now, there are two modes, normal, where you can knife people half the time (if you’re a manly man, man, man-man, like me). Then there’s professional mode, which is physically, emotionally and mentally draining. This made me feel like I was insignificant, like my balls weren’t made of super alloy z irradiated with getter beams. This game made me cry, and question my own self worth. The difficulty difference is so high, that let’s say, Kenshiro, was able to beat Shin, but then when he faced Souther, he couldn’t beat him, cause well, cause Souther’s a dick and his nerve points were all reversed (I know that makes no fucking sense, but it’s FOTNS, it’s like trying to find deeper meaning in Riki-Oh). An example would be when I go into this room, with a bunch of hooded zealot church people, they all come towards me and thankfully, the pres’ daughter is wearing armor (I unlocked the different costumes yo, it made the sting also much worse the fact that I didn’t even need to protect her). And I’d use her as bait, lure them and the shoot them in the face and kick them right? WRONG YOU SONS OF BITCHES, BECAUSE IF ONE GUY JUST FUUCKING HITS YOU, YOU AUTOMATICALLY BECOME SLOW BECAUSE YOU’RE SOME WEAK ASS ANEMIC FUCKER FOR SOME ODD REASON. THEN, YOU’RE SUSCEPTIBLE TO MORE ENEMY ATTACKS, AND THERE’S NO FUCKING HERBS MAN! NO MORE FUCKING HERBS! AND THEN THERE’S THESE FUCKERS WITH SHIELDS, OH JESUS CHRIST HAVE MERCY ON ME! So, basically, capcom expects you to be this awesome super player who doesn’t even get touched since you’re so fucking awesome and even playing professional mode feels more like a chore than a game. I grumble having to beat professional mode, and it makes me feel like I’m in school. It makes me cry and worst of all, it emasculates me. Oh jesus, please kill Shinji Murakami, cause he’s finally done something to me that everyone should’ve told hard-core modern moe loving otaku, that your games and your anime hates you just like everybody else in the real world! Fuck you Murakami. But like a beatened wife, I keep coming back to this game, wussing out and playing normal mode. I fucking love you resident evil 4, cause I’m a fucking masochist.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Lucky ☆ Star

Uh-oh. Here I go. Destroying the vibe of this blog with this show.
The girls of Lucky ☆ Star.
I'll give an honest opinion: this is not the best anime ever made. Yes, it is very charming and casts a magical, sugary spell over its viewer, sucking it in until the karaoke ending themes. The animation you will either hate, or hate to love it. The plot you will either despise or not really care about it. The characters will be annoying, fun, or genius. The first few episodes are weak. The episodes after it are glorious. Pick your poison.
Kyoto Animation hit it big again when Lucky ☆ Star aired Spring 2007. Still relishing in the huge hit of Haruhi Suzumiya, they shot at us again with another sure-fire. And, this time, the dance is in the opening theme.

Lucky ☆ Star's premise is like that of Azumanga Daioh. "Having fun in school, doing homework together, cooking and eating, playing videogames, watching anime. All those little things make up the daily life of the anime- and chocolate-loving Izumi Konata and her friends. Sometimes relaxing but more than often simply funny!" (Thank you, MAL.) But, unlike Azumanga, the main character is someone that, frighteningly, we all can relate to...

Izumi Konata

Konata is... an average otaku personality. She would much rather stay awake to the wee hours of the morning playing MMORPGs with her teacher (no joke) than study, or do homework. She works at a cosplay cafe. She is extremely passionate about Haruhi Suzumiya. (Kyoto Animation injected Haruhi into every crevice of this show. See the Mikuru figure on Konata's television?) She would much rather read manga, as too much text and not enough pictures hurt her eyes. A light novel has too much text for her, even! She is voiced by Aya Hirano, who also brought to life Haruhi Suzumiya. Her best friends are Miyuki Takara, Tsukasa Hiiragi, and Kagami Hiiragi.

(From left to right) Tsukasa Hiiragi, Izumi Konata, Kagami Hiiragi, and Miyuko Takara.

The Hiiragi twins remind me of several I actually known in real life. Each different, yet similar looking, with their own ideas and adorable, or annoying quirks. Kagami, however harsh her comment may be, she's quite the tsundere and loves her friends, even Konata, who really irritates and baffles her. Next to Konata, Kagami is the next favourite character of the show to many. Not mine... We'll get to that later.

Tsukasa and Miyuki and cute characters. (I dare not say the "M" word...) Miyuki is a rich individual from the city, with constant problems involving her teeth. Tsukasa is a little like Konata. She can't do her homework, has the same favourite manga as her ("Sgt. Frog!"), and possibly gets along the best with her. When it comes time to, she often forgets to switch into her summer uniform...

Let's move on to what really made this show special for me. It wasn't the "actual" show, but the show within the show. Let me introduce you all to Lucky Channel!

Minoru Shiraishi and Akira Kogami!! <3

Lucky Channel is the best. More entertaining than the actual show itself, more awesome, more unique... And all in three minutes time. This is what made me go on and continue watching Lucky ☆ Star. I don't think I can fully describe how amazing these skits are. With Minoru Shiraishi doing the voice of... Minoru Shiraishi... and Hiromi Konno as Akira Kogami, who, in a flash can turn from a sweet, peppy idol character to a harsh, chain-smoker personality type. Lucky Channel is epic.

Then... the karaoke ending credits begin to roll. For a time, the voice actresses of the four main characters sing themes to popular anime shows (From Sazae-san to Dragon Ball). But, then, it really kicks up as Minoru Shiraishi takes the stage, singing it up with songs like "Dentistman", "The Minoru Legend of Love", and "Hare Hare Yukai". Hiromi Kanno even sings a song her character Akira has in the show, going from really high-pitched to low and growling. Absolutely hilarious in every way.

... I love Minoru Shiraishi. Go watch Lucky ☆ Star now. He'll steal your heart. And, if not him, then Lucky Channel will.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Hello manly reader men

Oh, hey dudes, my name is I'm the host of the WMP, a podcast filled with things of the masculine, but not homosexual, persuasion. I'm here to tell you that I'll be writing things for this blog, whilst blowing things up and playing rock music. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and pilot giant robots while punching king kong in the face.

An Introduction, If I May?

Why, hello there! I'm a new writer for this little thingy-whatsit. You may call me Miss M. I am also known as "That Cool Chick with a LJ." I am quite cool, to pimp my collar for a moment. I will be posting anime news, reviews... or whatever I feel like.

To finish off this introduction, I would like to take offense to the description up in the right hand corner. I am not a gentleman, thank you.

I am a Fembot.