i'll make this shourt since i did a longblog post less then an hour ago...
mars was the second one of the chibi scouts that i drew...
i hated the original sketch.
i liked the idea but it just looked terrible....
so i worked on chibi moon, venus and jupiter.... and that left me with mars and mercury (which also looks bad IMO)
so i redrew her...
i still wasn't 100% happy but i knew it would just need tweaking.... so i brought it into photoshop and ended up with~
i think cause i had a day off i wanted to finish it all today... so i did, overall i'm happy with the end result... which surprises me cause i was expecting to ail miserably.
so thats leaves mercury.... may be a while since i have to figure out how i want her interacting with her symbol...
wish me luck!
well, the year is coming to a close.... and i think some things are very clear...
I have really strange taste.... i can go from liking one thing to liking something else that is completely 100% different....
since this is the end of the year.... i may as well do some quick top 10s to show how much my taste jumps around AND to compare to next year.
these list will not be limited to the past year (unless i wanna limit myself like that....) it will just be 'my top 10 fav things right now'
okay....
lets start with video games.... cause.... why not. now this is personal... completely my taste and if you disagree... thats fine.... a guarantee that you are going to disagree with me.... i'm odd.... just remember that.
10. Star fox 64
I have a personal History with this game, one christmas day when i was 7 or 8 i woke up before the rest of my family (like all kids do on that day) however we had a rule that until 7 am there wouls be no opening of presents... it was around 6:40 so i went to the family room to watch some morning cartoons before i would go wake my parents....
i go to turn on the TV and next thing i know i'm being yelled at by my dad. "GET OUT OF THE FAMILY ROOM"
I freak out and run back upstairs and get scolded that there is no tv allowed on christmas morning...
was really stupid at that age so i bought that line.
so as we are opening presents i open one and it's star fox...
funny we don't own any gaming systems....
my dad swears and then hands me the big box... and it's an n64....
So i blink and it eventually registers that thats why i got yelled at.... the n64 was set up downstairs and my dad was worried i saw the present before having opened the box.
i would find out later that he set it up so he could play goldeneye.... cause my dad can't wait....
So i had star fox, golden eye and diddy kong racing.
Well i sucked at first person shooters even then and diddy kong was fun but whatever.... starfox though i loved... i loved that i could take different paths i loved how the story would change (or at least the characters you meet) depending on where you go.... i loved the music.... it was just such a fun game....
also no matter what you pretty much couldn't lose.... even some missions if you fail it pushes you forward.... that was great for me cause i am bad at video games....
I beat this game over 70 times as a kid.... and a few of those times on hard mode.... i felt proud... so to this day i still get nostalgic with this game.
9. Avalon code
This game was bought on a whim, i went into an EB games i live near and saw it on the top shelf.... the art style looked adorable and it was only 10 bucks....
one of the most creative and fun games i ever played.... the only reason it's so far down the list is because it's kinda buggy.... i had a few times were i got caught in an endless loop of clipping through the floor and dying.
however the game was still so fun and i adore the style, one of my best random purchases ever... though i haven't always bee nthat lucky (here's lookign at you A Witch's Tale and Hoshigami Remix and L'Ark Rise Fantasia)
8. Fire emblem
I heard about this game the same way pretty much everyone in north america did.... Super smash bros Melee, i loved the character design and then when the north american trailer i was so excited to play it.
I was not disappointed at all....
i was one of those people who reset any time a character died but still... that never made me hate the game.... i reset because i loved all the characters.... i couldn't stand the idea of one of the characters dying.... i had to know how they would continue to grow...
however..... the final level was really hard
i spend hours trying to beat it but someone always died and i would reset and try again..........
until my final attempt, i was one hit from beating the level and my absolute favorite character Sain died.
and... and i just couldn't do it.... i couln't restart.... i has come to far...
not the first time a game has made me cry but reading Sain "died at final level" was heart breaking to me : (
so yeah... one of my fav games....
7. Pokemon Crystal
Not the first pokemon game i owned (that would be yellow... i was a little late to the party apparently) but it was definitely my fav.... why?
Because you can play as a girl.... and being that i am a girl... and finding a girl character to play as in that day and age was damn near impossible was really cool to me.
I also loved Suicune and Celebi and the former was the focus of the game so yeah.... i loved it.
to date i have owned almost all the colours cause my parents would get me one and my grandparents would get me the other....
but this and Silver are my favs.... i love the new ones (though i've barely touched white two... mainly cause of time restrictions) but crystal just was way too much fun.
so yeah... i've had red, yellow, gold, silver, crystal, ruby, sapphire, black, soul silver, white 2, pinball, trading card game (yeah they made a gameboy game based off it) conquest (which i still need to beat) and some of the stadiums......
i like pokemon..... they are adorable....
6. Ace Attorney
I was WAY late to the party on this one.... i played the first one after the three were all out.... i found it at a con for a cheap price and fell in love with it.... it's a shame it's not really possible to replay without remembering everything but it's the game i lend out the most just so people can share the joy. 5. Chrono Trigger
I didn't even play this game till they ported it to the DS, I did have a SNES growing up but it was at my granparent vacation trailer thingy and i went there maybe 3 times a year for a single weekend so if i played any snes games it would have been super Mario World or Alladin....
the SNES is now hooked up to my tv but i still have no time to play it : (
but yeah i loved this game.... i got all the endings.... first i got the blade that crits liek 70 or 90% of the time.... game broken from that point on... still the ending that you need to beat sans Crono were tricky.... still... great game, great music, great story.... just so good.... 4. Disgaea
i'm noticign as i get further down the list the stories get shorter.... hm....
Anyways I have two stories with this... one time my friend invited me to play D&D, it sounded fun so i went.... i was 13 or 14 at the time.... they were all a year or two older then me and guys so i was a bit shy but i noticed one of them had a game in there bag. He told me he had searched everywhere for it and it was hard to find cause it was out of print.... it looked really good but i forgot about it.
then one day i went to the EB i live near and it was there..... but i didn't have enough money for it.... so i ran home, ran back.... and someone had bought it....
Fast forward a year or two.... i see it again, this time i had money and i buy it right away....
wow this game is pure fun times.... the humor the game play the character design.... and multiple endings.... (hey.... i'm noticing a trend here!) i just loved it.
to tell the truth.... i think normal end is better then good end..... he journey laharl goes through at the end actually made me cry (like i said... i cry a lot... very easily) and the good end was just missing that extra heart..... plus seeing a certain character in a pool of his own blood was very much to my liking.... after doing 'that' to my best healer you better be ready to pay....
also ninja's are so broken in this game.... they dodge everything.... including healing spells.... but when i was getting the best ending i did it with a ninja and Laharl.... that was it...
3. Persona
I wanted to say only person 3..... but i really like 4 as well.... i've just beaten 3 so i guess i'm partial to it? also i spoiled person 4 for myself before i even strated playing cause i looked at the artbook i got with the preorder before actually playing the game.... big mistake...
anyways when I first picked up persona 3 i looked at the back "70 hours of gameplay" at that age i kinda prided myself for being able to beat games without missing much in about under half the itme on the back............. 75 hours later i beat persona 3.... and 2 hours of that was the final boss cause i was barely a high enough level
another thing that happened was one i was in the tower and i got called off to dinner....i figured i was in a safe area so i didn';t need to pause....
i come back after dinner and i'm in the middle of a fight..... with DEATH....
I, being bad at games and easy to scare, freaked the fuck out..... ran the fuck away then had death chase me with his rattling chains.... to this day when i hear chains rattling (something surprisingly common at my work) i get chills and whimpers....
2. Tales of Phantasia
My first Tales of game AND the first game i ever truly 100%, i got all the items, maxed the levels and went to every secret spot.... it was SO much fun.
i've played Symphonia 1&2, destiny, Abyss (probably second fav) and currently i'm working through vesperia but still... this is my fav.... probably cause it was the first..... who knows....
1. Ys
Anyone who knows me at all is not surprised that this is number one.... i should clarify that i mean the Ys Series..... not nessicaril Ys 1 and 2..... however.... despite how screwy the continuity is i played this game mostly in order.
i played the DS Versions of 1 & 2 and thats apparently the broken versions.... which doesn't surprise me at all.... but hey i beat it so i guess i'm happy....
then i play Oath in Felghana on PSP which is the third game..... love love love love love love LOVE this one... just.... listen to the intro....
I'ts just so pretty.... then i played Seven, which has the song Innocent Primeval breaker.... which just gets me so excited to do anything.... one of the best songs in the entire franchises....
then i played origin which is a prequil to 1 that takes place 700 years in the past and other then the underwater section AND needing to play the game 3 times to get all the storyit's a really dame good game.... then i played 3 on steam.... cause i wanted to support xseed.... and now i wait for Celceta.... my friend imported it and i COULD play it but after playign Nayuta no Kiseki i have realized that i actually really enjoy Falcom games for their story AS WELL as their music.... guess i lied i nthat one game where i said otherwise.... if the game were fully voice acted i wouldn't have any issue but reading japanese is too hard for my current skill level... but i'm learning...
so yeah.... right now i'd say those are my top 10....
"BUT RAI" i hear some of you cry out to your monitor "you like RPGs but your list is missing Final fantasy and Zelda...."
well thats simple...
I like final fantasy, the music is good but.... i didn't play it as a kid so i dont have that nostalgia factor AND every time i beat one the game crashes one me.... my bad luck yes but i was never sad when it happened..... plus sephiroth has a move called supernova.... and considering i have panic attacks when space is involved..... i can't beat that boss.... so i liek final fantasy but honestly.... not as much as any of the games i listed about....
as for no zelda..... remember that part when i said i was bad at games? yeah Zelda is pretty much the game i am the worst at.... i tend to beat on dungeon then just give up cause i suck so damn much.... therefor i could never really like the game casue i could never beat it.... so again... not the games fault... completely 100% my fault... but all the games listed above are ones i have beaten.
and don't ask how i can play Ys on hard or nightmare but Zelda is somehow hard.... i don't know.... i'm good at one.... not the other...
so i think thats it.... i better get back to making some art~
So those who know me know that i have a twitter account but I don't
tend to use it.... just when I'm letting people know I've written a
review or finished some art. I use it mostly to see when authors or
content creators are releasing something new.
Those who know
me also know that because work is dreadfully boring and stressful I
listen to random videos from all over the Internet like TGWTG, Blistered
thumbs and Youtube.
Well not too long ago I was watching a Shinkara: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGamingShelf Video about Xseed's "The Last Story"
I
am a fan of Xseed cause among some awesome titles they released a bunch
of the Falcom titles I love so much to North America (which is great
cause I'm trying to play Nayuta no kiseki but the fact that I'm so slow
at reading Japanese is making it next to impossible to get the bulk of
the story.... why isn't it all voice acted? WHY)
Anyways... back on track... in that video he mentions that he likes other games xseed like Ys and Trails in the sky, that impressed me cause 99% of people have never tried those games cause they aren't hugely popular.
So i decide to follow his twitter account cause why not?
now this guy is awesome cause he seems to talk to others easily... including me.. i felt bad that i couldn't say what film i was working on in the tweets but twitter is a bit too public..... imdb on the other hand.... http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4518593/
that shouldn't get me in trouble.... i hope....
ANYWAYS... back on track.... today while at work i was making a poster for a mini party thing and i was working on it for about an hour... i thought about saving and photoshop read my mind and crashed... cause photoshop is a jerk sometimes.... but then again... i am to blame... i wasn't saving much..... or at all... : (
anyways this is what spurred on all of this.
it gave me a chuckle, and i just wanted to mention that some Internet contributors are awesome and that you should go watch his video.
and that concludes my twitter adventure... it was a bit longer then my Aaron Pogue one (which if i didn't write about here was literally me writing a review of his novel, him reading it and telling me it made me smile and then me hiding from twitter for a good month....)
so yeah..... um.... that's all i got.... i should get back to working on the poster.... but i have a feeling I'll just end up doing it at home on my Cintiq... the tablet i have here barely works anymore.... which is why it took me an hour to finish one small tiny itty bitty piece of the poster..... *sighs* still i should have been saving.
So this is the last sailor moon related thing for a whille (well other then the other Chibi's and the manga which will eventually finish)
I will not being doing stars cause a) i don't own it and b) i don't like it.... at all... not even a little
In my opinion Super S is my favorite season of the show mostly because the focus on them being sailor scouts is kinda downplayed....
This season has a lot of character growth, Ami finds out that she can do even more then study all the time, rei figures our that putting a persona out there can hurt others and it's better to be yourself....
Minako and Mako... um.... figure out being pretty is alright and plants are are cool? ok so some grow more then others... m ypoint is this season has something that S completely forgot about.... S could have been done by sailor moon all alone and nothing would have been different where this one they really felt like a team.
also like i mentioned Super S focuses on my two fav characters, Chibi Usa and Helios, i know a lot of people hate her... i don't... yes she is extremely annoying at first but she grows a lot throughout the three seasons... and helios is just an awesome Alicorn.
...
yeah i dunno why they call him pegasus through the entire season... pegasus... pegasi? ugh... they don't have horns.... and he does.... technicaly...
also as a side note i think the enemy design are the most creative in this season... even more creative then Stars where i feel like are kinda rehashing the same ideas (chibi chibi anyone... and i like her too but you have admit the odangos have been done to death by this point.)
I am really looking forward to the new/reimaging/whatever it ends up being in 2013... i hope that they don't try to ruin it with moe or anything like that... but i have a feelign everything is going to be okay....
part of me wants it to take place in the far fututre but the rumors seem to be that it's most likely going to be a reimaganing thats closer to the manga.... guess we'll see since i don't think anything has been confirmed.
but now that i'm all done rewatching sailor moon.... what should i watch..... something that will keep me busy considering once all the shows end this season i'm going to have to queue up my reviews >< or bambard you guys with a bunch... guess i'll figure that out when we come to it.
another OTP/in a perfect world pic.... this theme is Cuddling~
so i had more fun drawing this then expected... it took about 10 minutes? maybe.... anyways i just adore drawing them happy.... it'll make tearign them apart that much more fun...
did i say that out loud..... oops...
anyways for some reason Ku-name in transition-rai looks a bit mischevious and i wanted a more gentle feel.... i also wanted them to be closer.... so i did just that.
I thought i had an inbetween pic.... apparently NOPE.... oh well i'm pretty happy with this... i still hate drawing hands and multiple character in the same picture but i just had a blast.
also i wanted to finish this before i started working on a commission which should be fun... no idea when i'll have time to do a 4 chibi pic.... but i'll manage
for now though i need to go rest and get over this stupid cold that i've had for a week now >< i hate winter.... i always get so sick...
to put it lightly i'm a fan of this series...
...
yeah thast putting it really likely.
I don't know why i love it so much.... endless eight arc should be enough for me to hate it... but i don't.
I think the story telling is clever (no matter which order of the 4 available you watch it in)
I like the characters... since even the vapid Moe girl seems to have some depth....
i really like the music.... which is funny cause it's mostly saxaphone and i tend to dislike songs with sax in it...
and I adore Kyon's snark.... in fact if Kyon weren't in the series i wouldn't watch/read.... considering he's the main character....
oh.... on that note.
Dear person who writes the back of the book.
Haruhi IS the Titular character.... no one can argue that fact.
HOWEVER
she is NOT the main character.
Kyon is the main character, we see it through his eyes, we hear his inner and sometimes a surprise to him outer Dialogue, we know exactly as much as he does.
What do we know about Haruhi? we know thats she's a crazy try anything girl with godlike powers that she either got herself three years prior or was given three years prior.
thats it, we've never been to her house, we know nothing about her in general other then she enjoys having Fun..... but not any kind of fun... no it has to be special.
But otherwise she's just a plotpoint, she drives the story forward despite how little she takes part in it.
and she barely takes part in it cause she can't... the others wont let her.
But Kyon gets to take part in all the crazy shit.... therefor it's his story *nods*
oh i'm supposed to talk about Indignation.... right.
So this book has two short stories, completely new content which always makes me smile.
Haruhi does have more of a part in both but still she doesn't take part in anything.... but still it's nice to see the club continue it's activities in such a crazy way... it's also good to see how she really can be a kind and thoughtful person... quite grounded in reality...
Both stories had a moment that made me laugh, one was what kyon was forced to write about (though when it wasn't about a certain thing i was upset cause i wanna know more about a certain character who STILL hasn't been introduced... but has been hinted at since the first episode/chapter) and the other was a certain joke from a certain character..... mostly cause i use it to torture a good friend of mine when i wanna be spoiler free.
But in the end... not my fav volume, while i love Kyon's epiphany (for someone who claims to be stupid he sure as hell can be really smart)I just felt like it didn't really advance the plot too much and there were no hints to my Kyonism theory Except for Kyon's little epiphany... . it was just "lets allude to something we've been hinting at since day one" and "kyon has an epiphany as big if not bigger then Haruhi's 'how insignificant one person in a crowd' moment."
It is still good and i'm sure some of the things here will seem more important when i read the last two volumes..... which aren't out for a while.... i'm gunna go have a little cry now....
i'm terrible at this waiting thing... oh well.... i guess the waiting is good cause i kinda don't want it to end.... i like guessing at things like "will we see more of Koizumi's attitude? is Kyon really the god? Is Mikuru using mind control drugs in the tea (i'm not kidding that is a valid theory) what is Kyon's real name? would Itsuki really put it or the nickname in the acknowledgement section of his book?
who knows.... i wont till i read the next two.... and i really look forward to it.
but dammit i really hate that i have to wait so long... when is book 9 being released?
i'm seeing both April and June being release dates... i don't know which is correct....
....
...
..
.
thats so far away (ignoring that i waited two years for Lightbringer Book 2)
... This was not what i expected to happen.
ever since this show came out in 2005 people have been telling me this show is made for me.
Then i stopped hearing about it for a few years.... after having said i love Natsume Yuujinchou people said i would probably love this show as well...
and i just.... i just don't... and i don't get why i don't like this show....
it has all the elements of a show i tend to like.
it's kinda slice of life...
it has lots of supernatural elements...
it has amazing music.... an interesting look....
Why the hell do i not like this show?
i don't get it.... this show is tailor made to my personal likes.... i should love this show.... it should be right up there with Natsume yuujinchou..... why isn't it? WHY.
hm.... maybe i need to compare....
Some ground rules to this compairison...
as the name suggests i didn't finish Mushishi.... i gave it 4 episodes and after this i may try and give it more but i highly doubt it....
since i only made it 4 eps in..... i will only compair the first 4 episodes of Natsume which include: The Cat and the book; The Dew God's Small shrine; The Mysterious Person at the Eight Fields; Shigure and the Girl
So in the first 4 episodes what we know about Natsume:
1. he sees spirits though he really doesn't want to.
2. though he is afraid of them at first he can't help himself from helping him.
3. he feels weak and powerless and in need of a bodyguard despite the fact he can punch out demons with relative ease.
4. due to the fact that people tend to shun him when they find out the truth he keeps it all to himself... even when he finds people who would probably accept him.
in the First 4 wpisodes of Mushishi what we know about Ginko:
1. he can see Mushi and is some type of researcher.
2. he goes calling himself a mushi master, everyone knows this and they ask him for help.
3. he knows a lot about mushi and can cure humans who are being affected by them.
4..... um.... he only has one eye and smokes?
i think i see why i don't like this show.... I don't like Ginko....
he can solve all the problems way to fast.... now i think this is a fault of the pacing of the Anime not necessarily present in the manga....
it's been four episodes and he has had no character growth yet.... by this same point in NY Natsume is already starting to open up his heart to the spirits and see that they are not all bad.... am i being unfair cause i haven't seen it all... yeah probably but dammit most north american dvds at that time only had 4-5 episodes on one disk... had i watched this on dvd this would be a definite dropped because it didn't capture my interest in nearly an hour and a half of my time.... keeping in mind i came in expecting really good things....
now i should clarify... this show is really good.... i just didn't like it... it didn't resonate with me but that doesn't change the fact that this show has won a lot of awards and for good reason. it deals with some really deep and interesting and thoughtful ideas.... it really makes you think....
But i don't like the main character... at all... and unfortunately it taints the rest of the show for me...
now to be fair.... it is all on netflix and i may try and give it another batch of episodes... but again.... i gave it the same amount as would be on a dvd AND one more then i normally give anime i'm not sure about... normally i stop after three.... but i wanted to like this and some shows take a while to get into the swing of things.
if anyone has a suggestion of "watch this this episode and after that you can decide if you like it or not" please let me know cause part of me really wants me to keep going and see why everyone loves it so much.... but the other part thinks that if i don't like it by now... whats going to change... and if the answer is watch all 26 episodes.... then no... i'm sorry but thats too much time on something i'm just not into....
ugh i'm so disappointed.... i really really really wanted this show to be amazing... and it probably is.... i'm just finding it hard to give it anymore of my time...
Grrr i'm so conflicted....
