Angela - From start to finish -

hey it's been a while since i wrote one of these... most cause my process for the sailor mermaid chibis is litterally "i wanted to draw mermaids but i also wanna do sailor moon fan art..."
and then i did both...
and i don't tend to write these for commissions cause... what would i say? "i got paid to draw this and i had a good time"

so after my last 11 pieces being mermaids i figured i sould maybe sketch something with legs...

yay that was fun....
too bad i don't like it...
NEXT THING

well it doesn't have legs.... or hands for that matter.... but there are wings... and i just proved i can still draw legs so........ yeah i'll work on this.

it kinda reminded me of this one off character i had back in highschool named Angela... she was mainly done cause i wanted to draw ringlettes.
then i inked it and had more fun with curls and swirls... but i still kept angelas pallet of pinks and purples.

this was really just me having too much fun with Sai... also i love when things poke out of frames... i always have so yeah... just way too much fun with this.

so yeah i hope you like it, i have another commission to work on (though probably wont get started on it till tomorrow cause my wrist is telling me it's time to rest... maybe some time for a book?)

Rant - there will be strong language

i honestly don't think i can talk about this without flying into a rage so yeah, long story short: some people are annoying and obviously don't get it.

First impressions: Mario and Luigi: Dream team

this is also my first impression of downling a full new game from the Nintendo shop.

So, truth be told, i'm not the biggest fan in the world of normal mario games.... cause i'm kinda terrible at them.
the one i got the furthest in was World.... you know... for the SNES.
though i have played 3d land and new super mario bros and... i dunno... they were fine? maybe platformers aren't my thing... i like games with story and jumping from ledge to ledge doesn't cut it?
but i do like platform elements in games... look at Ys 3: oath in felghana.... a large portion of that game is useing platforming and magic to reach new areas... and i really like it.... even that one leap of faith wirlwind jump in the cave... okay i actually hated that the first time... but still..

anyways i bring that up cause even though the mario platformers are all kinda blah to me the paper mario games were always really fun. and while the mario and luigi game is not part of the paper mario series it's got many similarities.

now, ever since i played paper mario i've felt turn based combat could really use the timed elements of attacking and dodging... it's just a little more engaging then waiting for everything to play out (i'm mostly talking about pokemon cause the TB FF games have all had the timing element with the counters for each character and that works for me)

so this game is really interesting in the way that you control the two brothers jumping individually with A&B buttons.... it adds a new dimension to the time based reactions as well as the platforming. also luigi has the ability to manipulate some of the world around him which adds another level of fun.

the story is... uh.... same old i guess... princess gets herself kidnapped, you have to save her.... but the way it's presented is different then the other platformers.
like more of the mario rpg games it doesn't seem (i say this as only being 3 hours in) that Bowser is the main enemy which is nice... the enemies seem 'different' then your average goombas but still just as stompable.

then theres the 3d.... now i almost never play in 3d and this game kinda expects you to... some of the fights use the depth of the field for either doing more damage if you can line up properly or avoiding an attack if you can stay out of harms way. luckily the 3d doesn't hurt at all and is really subtle but still.. i'm not a fan of playing with it on so it can lead to some moments of frutration when you just miss by a hair.

one negative... this game is tutorial HEAVY.
"here's a tutorial for jumping"
"here's one for opening the menu"
"see that big blue save button? here's a tutorial on how to use it!"
"not sure how to move? tutorial~"
"never picked up a game in your life? don't worry we will teach you every single thing that you could probably figure out by hitting the buttons yourself."
it's annoying... but skipable... some will get mad at you for wanting to skip but screw them... i would have been 5 hours in at this point had i listened to all of them.
i've heard it be described as baby's first RPG but honestly some of it is baby's first game.

still i love that stuff in the dream plays differently then stuff out of it... i think the story, art and humor are charming and i look forward to playing more... .once my 3ds is charged up.

thats enough about the game... now about how i got it.
everywhere around me was sold out of this game... so i thought... i have that 30 buck credit from FE and SMT IV....  so yeah... i figured why not....
(though i am annoyed that physical copies and digital copies are priced the same.... digi copies should be a little cheaper in my opinion cause of lack of owning the physical copy or having to have it in a store... i'm not saying much cheaper... just like 5 bucks or something...)
the positive: i now have more then one game on my 3ds with me.
the negative: it took a LONG time to DL.... and i mean i placed it beside my wi-fi and it still took at least 30 mins if not more...
will i do it again?
maybe? i'm kinda wishing i had done it for animal crossing cause then i could just switch to it wouldn't pulling out the cart but any other game i'd rather own the physical copy.... maybe i'm just odd that way

but yeah good times all round... i'm glad i have the option of DL digitally when the game is otherwise sold out.

Completed: Elysium

ok just to get it out of the way.

Disclaimer: i'm not a fan of sci-fi.

that being said

This movie was fine, better then some other things i've seen recently.

The plot is about the rich and powerful up on their colony doing everything in their power to keep those poor dirty earthlings off their pristine perfect ring thingy.

Matt Damon (max i think?), thanks to having the worst boss ever gets a lethal dose of poisoning that will kill him in 5 days.
so he's motivated to get up to elysium and use one of there magic healing bed thingies.

however his only way to get up there is to do some pretty illegal things which just gets him in more trouble.... but still... he's determined to get there before he is killed.

I think the alternative title to the film is "how much and we beat up matt damon" cause seriously he goes through hell.

but there is a reason why the film is just 'fine'

it's incredibly predictable.
the base concept isn't terribly original either... i've watched how many shows in the past year that have 'perfect' space colonies.
and finally... it is excessively violent, i don't mind violence in films but there is a point when you have to look at the scene and think "with less gore would this have the same/more impact?"
yes... yes it would... cause when i saw a guy get blown into multiple pieces in a peaceful area my brain immediately went "why would they need that weapon here? on earth i could understand them making it... but not here"

in fact many things made me go "why didn't they just--" in this film....
90% of the people want to go up to cure injuries... so why not put a magic healing bed in every hospital on earth and everyone would be happy...
yes i get that the story is an allegory for immigration, the 1% and the haves vs have nots... i get it... still... easiest way to avoid having a riot is to make the lower class happy and give them their damn healy beds.
ALSO
if you have the power to create magic healing beds... could you not then spend your infinite amount of time left creating something that gets rid of the pollution on earth? elysium was pretty but earth can be so much prettier and with the added space on elysium the overpopulation may not be an issue.
or maybe build more elysiums.
thats one of my problems with sci-fi logic in general... they tend to have these amazing things but all these other possibilities get swept under the rub cause iit would be impossible to address them all.  (that thats not why i hate sci-fi... i hate sci-fi cause it enjoys employing blackholes/super novas as plot device and that doesn't sit well with me)

so yeah the film is fine, especially considering it's a film released in august, it's a hard R though so if ultra violence to the point of being cartoony isn't your thing then maybe wait a bit. but yeah not upset that i saw it....

Natsume's book of friends ramble

this is just me saying my opinion, i do not know and am in no way connected to the production of the show so yeah... my speculation.

I saw a post on tumbl asking if there would ever be a season 5
he rplieswere mostly "they are making an OVA" but one person replies with "well when 4 was released they said that that was the season finale"

um.... yeah... cause when seasons end.... they are called season finale.... SERIES finale would be the saying no more.

my opinion on the season 5 issue is that it's probably going to happen... it may just take a while.

Japanese anime, unlike north american series, tend to take extended breaks between seasons.
this can be done to either let the source material catch up or because the animtion how has something that they need to do first before going back.

some examples.
The menlancholy of haruhi suzuimya had a 3 year gap between it's two seasons yet the movie was released pretty shortly after that (i wanna say less then a year but i don't know for sure. )

Clannad and clannad ~after story~ had 1 year gap, little busters also took a break.

Kuroko's basketball second season wont start till october when the first season was done almost a year and a half ago.

and most importantly to this discussion.

Nastume yuujinchou.
jul-sep 2008
Zoku natsume yuujinchou
Jan - march 2009

so a season gap between the two stories.... makes sense, gives the animations sometime to work on the generally more popular heavy fall season.

Natsume yuujinchou san
July-sep 2011

almost a 3 years gap...

Natsume yuujinchou shi
jan-march 2012

again taking off a season.

what i'm trying to say is around season 2 they probably felt that they didn't have enough stories to do snother 13-26 episode run (because the artist only writes one chapter per month for lala).... so instead of going ahead cause the show isn't hugely popular they just let the manga get ahead.

i will not be surprised if in another few years we get a season 5... and if we don't... if 4 is really the end then that makes me sad cause the latest stuff to happen in the manga is really incredible and i think would make for an interesting show. the way the character dynamic has shifted is unlike anything i have ever witnessed.
that being said until the manga is finished or had enough to get the 26 episodes over the two seasons it may take a bit of waiting. (well waiting to be animated since the manga has been keeping up pretty well)
but for now i look forward to dreaming about Shiki natsume being animated, amoung other chapters.

Completed: Rise of the Guardians

or as i call it "wow thats a neat effect" the movie.

okay thats a little harsh
but seriously the ice, the sand, the frost... it all looks so damn pretty... also the character design is wonderful.

the filmitself was fine.... it falls into the "lets do a stupid not funny joke to remind people that it's a kids film" a lot and i think if it just told it's story it would have been a millions times better. Granted I just tend to hate when there are drastic whiplash tonal shifts thanks to reminding people who the target audience is.... maybe thats just me.

The story is about Jack Frost, both his joining the guardians and learning about himself.

Jack's story is the most interesting of the film.... maybe next to the antagonists... but this film feels a little disjointed because it almost feels like it's not fully willing to make jack the main and just goes all over the place...

what i'm trying to say there are too many plot threads so what we do get doens't get nearly as much time as it needs.
we have "who is jack", "who is the man in the moon and why does he do what he does?", "why is pitch such an ass", "why does not being believed in suck", "why isn't jack affected the same way as the others?", "they seem to have a lot of history.... what is it?" "oh hey look heres a kid who gets a lot of attention for no reason"
i mean you can just tel lthat this is a series cause it needs more time and books aren;t as limited as film can be.

still i thought it was good... it had issues but glad i saw it....

i will say everyone looks like they are wearing colour contacts... the eyes just looks weird and painted on instead of having a luminecent quality.... it distracted me through the whole damn film especially considering how pretty everything else is.

my last negative note is with the voice acting... specifically jack.
I think Chris pine does a great job, that voice did not match that character for me... and santas voice (alec baldwin?) was just overthe top and kinda grating but i get why he went that direction.... i just wish santa didn't talk so damn much.

Jude law as pitch was perfect, he seems to do sinister pretty well.

so yeah good film but obviously as kids film so if you hate the drastic tonal shifts to remind you who the audience really is then you may not enjoy it... if you enjoy seeing some incredible things doe with animation then i recommend giving it a shot, it's on netflix. 

the fun thing about being an Ys fan

so conbravo wasn't too long ago and i picked up a japanese cartridge of Wanderers from Ys for fun/it was cheaper then the english cart by 10-20 bucks.
so i thought about the gaps in my Ys collection... yeah i don't really care about the older versions of the game cause
a) not the easiest things to find
b) i have newer versions of the game.

but there is one game i have yet to find for a decent price.
Ys 6 The ark of napishtim.
last time i was at anime north they tried to sell me an opened one for 100 bucks and no... i am not paying that much for a game i have beaten (pushes aside the repo cart of tales of phantasia she just bought but that is a different argument.... i like that game... napishtim was just okay)

so i go to one of the vendors.
"hello, you wouldn't happen to know if you have any Ys games"
and i pronounced Ys as "Ease" cause thats how it's pronounced.
"what? never heard of that series"
i pause and think then grit my teeth
"how about Whys series"
"oh yeah i have that... wait... how did you pronounce it before?"
"ease"
"why?"
"cause i think that's how it's pronounced, i could be wrong (i'm not wrong)"
"well which one were you looking for"
"the ark of napishtim"  (nah-pish-tem)
"the ark of what?"
i couldn't think of another way to pronounce it so...
"i believe (know) it's on ps2"
"ah we only have the psp ones"
"ok~ well thanks anyways"
he then told me what a fan he was of the series and how he played the old ones and it was good fun... but thanks to the title being able to be pronounces so many different ways (an instance i'm noticing is saying Celceta with a hard C while i always figures it was a softer c) which in the end just ends up with people not knowing how to ask for something and get a valid response.

but yeah random story is random~ 

Dropped: Kinmoza

Aka Kiniro masiac.

i'm... a little sad about this.

the first episode was really good.
it was the first time i'd ever seen an anime have the character who are speaking in english ACTUALLY speak in english... it works well for some of the jokes and cultural gags at the start
so i though the show would be about the two girls learning more about each others culture over time...
and to be fair that is what it's about... kinda...
see at the end of the first episode the character goes back to japan and we fast forward a few years.
this time the english girl goes to japan... but cause she already studied a lot of japanese culture she doesn't really learn anything new.
the show ended up being moe girls doing things with giggles and sparkles... and even though it still has a sweetness to it i just don't care.
i like show with story.... even the slice of life shows i watch have some kind of plot... this is just the girls are obsessed with each others culture.... and they smile and giggle a lot...

there isn't a ongoing plot (at least not 6 episodes in/halfway through the show)
they mentioned the one girl wanting to be a translator but they never show he working towards that goal. another english (well half english half japanese) girl is brought in and for an episode we had a plot where people were a bit freaked out cause she's a foreigner... and  then that was dropped by the end of that episode.

i think the show is cute (maybe a little too cute) and if you like shows like lucky star or k-on you may get a kick out of it but i just don't care anymore.

so yeah... scratching a title off my already short list of things i'm watching this season.

Firefly - from start to finish -

so i've been in a mini slump and ever since i've been on pain meds for my tooth it's been impossible to draw
i believe i heard ti i nprincess tutu but it's a great saying
"stop practicing for a day and you'll notice, stop practicign for 3 and your colleagues will" true for drawing as well as ballet.

so even though i hate the sketch
i figured working on something is better then moping about
but at the same time since i wasn't happy with it i was going to use it as an experiment.

so heres the ugly sketch (or as a friend put 'interesting' which is NEVER a good term... unless you hear it in person and they actualyl mean it which does happen...)

i wanted it to be like she's floating/twirling in the sky as she floats up with al lthe fireflies
instead of got derpy... oops...

sp i brought it into paint tool sai and did some quick lineart... and i figured.. .well i don't wanna to spend a lot of time on this.... so i don't wanna isolate the layers and colour each one seperately... so i'll do a one layer with a midtone bg.
or in my case a slightly darker then midtone since a lot of the colours i was putting in were light... more contrast~

anyways... here it is.

still don't like it
but it was fun to work with less blending more more layering and 1 layers always pose neat challenges.

hopefully whatever i manage to make next gets me out of the slump... if not then more warm up/study pieces are in order.

also for fun... look at the bloby sans-lines

so yeah... it was all fun and learning more about PTS so yay~

off to take my last round of painkillers (hopefully) and maybe read more... (1 novel, 15 manga and countings.... not that manga take a long time)

Completed: The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya

this is it... the penultimate novel in this series (at least in north America since book 10 and 11 are being merged here.)

I can't say much that wouldn't qualify as spoilers so i'll just say that this takes place at the start of the second year and we get to meet a few more people from kyons past.

this has bee none of my favourite novels so far so yeah... i would say give it a read, each book is pretty short so it wont take much time..

from here on out spoilers.
 cause i need to talk about things...

List: best anime of the decade so far

here is the list to check it out youself

because i saw what was number one... there will be some rage... at least as much as i can give it...

FIRST OF ALL
isn't it a little early? i mean... it's 2013....
so really this list is "the best anime of the past three years."

Second of all
I haven't seen all the shows here, between work and finishing up college i just didn't have a lot of time for anime watching.... so i'll try not to comment on shows i haven't seen as i can't fairly judge them.

1. K-on!!
yeah... that little preamble? doesn't apply to this title.
i do not care that thousands of people voted this number one.
based on how the first season went i cannot see this show being any good.
i know... i am being completely unfair cause i refuse to waste any more of my time on this series but seriously... unless something happens (other then the girls being perfect and eatign cake [horribly animated all the mean time] and occasionally singing a [more then likely] really grating song and being just moe every frame of animation) i can't see this as being the best show of the past three years.
granted if i had unlimited power Natsume Yuujinchou 3 and 4 would be there but i doubt it's going to be there at all (havn't read the list yet)
so yeah... i haven't seen k-on!! (second season) but i feel like i gave it the time... i gave it 13 episodes.... so i have a little right to assume that in my opinion it would not be number 1...

2. A certain scientific railgun
This show looks really good... i have a friend who loves it and the second i find a legal way to watch it i will.

3. Madoka magica
Not surprised that this is so high, it's a good show but yeah i think it's startign to cool off a bit now that its formula is being copied by others shows which hope lightning will strike twice.

4. Attack on titan
haven't watched it yet.
i will once it's all out... it looked like the type of show i need to marathon cause i'm not a fan of shonen or fight heavy shows. so i'm just not going to give it the chance to let me wait.
the intro is fun though.

5. Tiger and bunny
the fandom scares me this one so i haven't watched it... maybe one day.

6. Stiens; gate
i enjoyed the show, it had a lot of interesting ideas and the music was stellar... if it were my list this would be higher.... even though it nearly gave me a panic attack when they were talking about blackholes  i still really liked the story...

7. Oreimo
i only watch 5 mins of this show cause it was just too creepy for me
i don't get the whole obsession with little sisters... and from what i hear the show doesn't go that way... i don't care... it's just... too creepy the way they act around each other...

8. Squid girl
apparently i'm not seeing the good anime... i haven't seen this hsow mostly cause it looked like a comedy anime and i don't tend to like those.

9. Girls and panzer
haven't seen this either but the concept just boggles my mind...

10. Nyarko-san another crawling.
couldn't get into this show.
i'm curious what demographic they got in the poll... cause clearly i'm not a part of  it.

11. Kuroko no basket
this would easily be top three for me... the fact that it's so low down the list makes me a little sad... but at least it's on the list
i'm actually rewatching it right now to get ready for the fall second season... should be good.

12. tantei operation milky holmes
i saw one ep of this and it was beyond stupid... just too damn moe...

13. Magi
yeah the show was fun... best ever? hmmm......
not in my opinion though it does have a large fanbase

14 Monogatari
show is creepy, dont care that it's on purpose
still icky

15 heart catch precure
havn't seen it, but i hear this series is massively popular in japan

16 SAO
no...
no... just... no..
maybe the first arc? but as a whole? no... it's one of the worst shows ever if you count it all

17 Ano hana
i liked this show a lot but best in the past three years? not really

18. Durarara!
this should be higher... t's one of the best instances of non-linear story telling i have ever seen.

19 highschool dxd
not interested in fanservice shows...

20. psycho-pass
i know people who like it alot but i haven't seen it myself

so yeah i disagree with the list... but i understand my likes and dislikes are niche

my list would have things like:
Natsume yuujincho, kuroko no basket, steins;gate, shin sekai yori, chihayafuru, hyobu kyosuke, gargantia, Blue exorcist, Puella magi madoka magica, Blast of tempest

but no the consensus is fanservice shows... and people wonder why the market is gettign homogenized. cause people claim they want more but then just go for the same old crap as before.

Dropped: Nayuta no kiseki

ugh this hurts.

okay so first i wanna talk about import games.
1. i have 5 titles in my entire collection that are imports.

a) Project diva -Rhythm game
b) Project diva 2 extend - Rhythm game
c) Jump superstar - fighting game
d) Ys vs Sora no kiseki: alternative saga. - fighting game (so much fun, if you can you should pick this game up)
e) Vantage master (which is still sealed and i only bought it cause the vendor had it cheap) - turn based strategy rpg spin off thingy...

2. while i can understand a lot of japanese and i am taking lessons reading it is still really hard. essentially this means that if a game has voice over i can get enough of the plot to enjoy it... if it's mostly text based i'm screwed.

in games like p.diva and jump superstars as long as you know what the menu buttons do you are fine, same-ish with Alternative saga though there is a story mode... but it's fully voice acted from what i remember so it didn't bug me.

So when my friend got Nayuta no Kiseki and said he would lend it when he was done i was excited cause yay a falcom game.... i love those... but i was worried cause it is an rpg and therefor i may get stuck if i don't know where to go....
still i gave it a shot.
and something unexpected happened.

i think it was in ys 7 when i said you don't play flacom games for the plot cause they tend to be on the silly side and your really just in it for music and gameplay... apprently i way lying.
yes nayuta has some really pretty music.
yes the gameplay is really fun and easy to control, hell all the combat stuff is completely understandable (though i've gotten stuck cause the game was telling me to head back and learn a move but i didn't know that)
from what i understood the plot seems pretty fun.
but because so little of the game has voice acting... i feel like i'm missing out on a lot
and thats just making me bummed out.
so yeah i'm enjoying the gameplay but i'm not enjoying the game...
cause i can't understand it *cries*
so yeah next time i see my friend i'll be returning it to him with the hope that eventually (even if it's DL only i don't care) it'll come out here and be playable in a language i can read...though right now i think i have to hope for for trails in the sky second chapter and maybe even final chapter... i'll continue to wait for them.. .even if my friend will constantly torment me with the fact that we probably wont see it for a long time.

*sighs*
oh well! Ys Celceta in the fall (i think around my birthday if not a little later) so i will get my falcom fix...
also may replay Ys7 cause other then 6 it's the only one i haven't replayed at all.
though honestly i don't have a lot of time for games... i fit in a little bit for SMT IV but even thats been taking a backseat to dealing with art/sick.

oh well... Nayuta no Kiseki... great game... too bad i can't understand it.
Also Xseed i think you are doing a great job and i know the falcom games are a little ridiculous so i rather you take your time and have a good product then rush to please impatient fans... i will just be off in my corner hoping for the best~