Completed: Pacific Rim... But...

I can't really review it cause i have family who worked on it so i'll say this.

DO NOT go see this is 3D.
In my personal opinion it is a bit too dark and a bit too much rain and sparks to be enjoyed in 3d, i saw it in 2d and some of the action was hard to follow... granted i do have the bias of hating 3D but still... i think it would just be too difficult to see/headache inducing.

If you like mech anime.... you may be reminded of some shows.
not saying this is good or bad just saying it was fun making connections to shows.

If you are not a fan of mech anime... this may not be the movie for you... but you probably know that already.

I will mention that i really enjoyed the music and some of the sets were pretty cool (though sometimes too much cg for my taste... however this is sci-fi so i forgive it that)

other then that it was nice to go see a movie in the theater again cause i haven't had much time to do that lately.

So yeah, curious to see what the box office is like.

Houzukigami - From start to finish-

so.... finished rewatching Natsume's book of friends the other day...
and that involved watching the moon splitting arc again... which is probably the best costume natsume ever gets to wear... and so even though i'm not good at drawing masks on caharcters i decided to try...
but then i figured if i did just a bust i could have a sort of circular compostion...
so i sketched it out...

and then i went... well it's better then the chibi i drew of nastume.... yay
so i inkined it and originally it was going to be kinda like sume-i style but it wasn't working so i decided against it.... and just went for a  thicker then normal line.

so yeah... coloured and inked in Sai with a few final touches in photoshop.

and i though abotu doing a manga version colouring but cause only the small chunk of hair is visible and i like the contrast of the anime hair colour more i decided not to...
anyways enjoy.

i'll try to do more natsume yuujinchou fan art in the future it's just the more i like something the more critical i am for the art i make for it.

and if you haven't seen the show you should watch it over on crunchyroll and then buy it from NISA *nods* cause it's good...

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Completed: Natsume's book of friends season 4.... again

for like the.... 6th time?

so... considering i've already written reviews on the show why am i talking about it again?
cause... it's my blog and i do what i want?

Well there is actually a real reason... 2 reasons.

1. this is the NISA special edition dvd/blu-ray and it's really pretty and completely worth the money... it came with a bookmark as a pre-order bonus and it just happened to fit in my kindle case so... if i ever need a bookmark at least i'll be able to grab on quick.

2. since i've been reading the manga while i wait/hope for season 5 something happened that changed my entire perspective on the series as a whole.... and i moreso wanna talk about that then i do the anime.... so... i'm using this as a good excuse.

However if you aren't completely up to date with the manga (chapter 63) stop reading here and just go pick up the dvd if you haven't already.

so...
The one thing i always told people about this show was "it's a little on the slow side.... i mean the antagonist isn't even shown till season 3.


I can't tell people that anymore cause it is no longer true... it was never true... i just didn't realize.

When you look at the characters on face value alone one is INFINITELY more creepy looking and even sounding.
so naturally being the judgmental asshole i apparently am (thank you show for showing me my true nature) i figured the one who is willing to use human and yokai alike to further his goal would be the antagonist.... not the case.

See through out the series Natsume has done a good job of keeping the book of friends a secret cause any exorcist who saw it would probably want it since it would give them power over many powerful Ayakashi/yokai

however in one of the later chapters someone sees him... kinda.

Okay i need to talk about the once difference between the anime an manga.

In the anime Natori sees a bit of the book in the hot spring episode... it's never brought up again so i thought maybe natori was being a good guy and just keeping it a scret to preserve the friendship...
well i was half right...
in the manga though he didn't see him at all... instead it just happened in these last few chapters and he even said "don't worry, we both have secrets, no need to tell me"

so at this point i'm relived cause yeah... when natori saw the book i let out a loud gasp. but it was all good right?
r...right?
NOPE
in one page.... with a few lines of dialogue i felt my heart break.
"nastume seems to have some important secret thing he keeps with him, find out what it is, maybe he's not fit to keep it"

you... son of a...
He trusts you, he's willing to confide in you now and you are going to throw that away just to further your stature as an exorcist... natori... all along... he has been the antagonist.... he's not evil per-say.. he didn't go into it thinking "i'm gunna screw this kid over cause he's inexperienced and quick to trust".... no he's just Greedy which in my opinion is a million times worse. he would always use natsume, who has been established to have an immense amount of spiritual power despite his frail appearance, to do seals or set things up and then he would take all the glory. so the fact that this kid may have a book full of spirits real names is just too much for him to stand... his title and beating the matoba clan who look down on him will end up being far more important then his friendship and the trust natsume has given him.
and i can just see it now... it's going to completely crush natsume and kill his ability to trust anyone.... and it'll probably be where natori loses his leg.
in an earlier point of the story it's mentioned that natori's mark never goes down his left leg since he's probably going to lose it at some point...

so.... now knowing who the true antagonist is when i was re-watching season 4 something horrific dawned on me.
In the bottle episode... Natori meets Tanuma.
Natori sees how close natsume and tanuma are and how they are both willing to put themselves in danger for the other. 
Natori wouldn't be above using that friendship in order to get what he wants.

then i read some translation of part of the Natsume's book of friends Novel.
and keeping in mind that it may or may not be canon (depsite the slight difference i consider both as canon) if it is canon and natori has yet another scary thing.... He knows natsume is friends with someone named Taki Tooru... that this person knows natsume can see things and that they would probably also rush into danger if things came to that.

so lets recount...
Natori knows where nastume lives, has spoken to his guardians and knows about ll his closest friends.
HOW COULD THAT GO WRONG?

and who knows.... maybe.... maybe nothing comes of it.... but considering the look on his face... and the way natori acts... i just know he is going to absolutely shatter natsume's faith in humanity.

in one page Yuki midorikawa proved that they could be more evil and cruel then i could ever imagine... they gave me an entirely new way to look at this show.
and i loved every minute of it... i just hope one day i can be even half as cruel to my characters....  (anyone who writes stories probably knows what i mean by this)

but yeah.... great show, great manga... i can't wait to see where it goes from here (cause i mean it only took 10 years for the antagonist to truly be revealed... so good times....)

Ramblings on crowd funding

I just watched the latest episode of Thumb wars
in short it talks about mostly the controversy with how double fine potentially misbudgeted for their game which is already over budget and are now asking for more money....

i'm not really going to talk about that but it was the spark that made me write this so i felt i should mention it.

i will say that in the episode the co-host Yousif (i hope i spelled that correctly) made some points they were shut down by the host in ways i don't completely agree with.

"As an investor i want to see a good finished project."
This is shot down because purchasing anything is a gamble and you aren't really an investor you are just buying a product on delay.
I respectfully disagree... i mean yes... buying anything is always a gamble, kickstarter or not you never knew what your going to get/if you are going to get an experience you enjoy... you just have to hope that they fufill their promises.
HOWEVER... lets say i fund something, and it doesn't do well/live up to the promises it made/out right sucks.
I am going to be a lot less likely to fund something cause i've been screwed in the past and theres no way to hold the person accountable other then not give them any more money.
and this is my opinion based on fact.

I have funded 4 projects through various crowd funding things.

1. a website known as Anipan which pitched as a place where you could put larger art without the worry of theft.

2. Aaron Pogues kickstarter to put his story into public domain rigth away(essentially an experiment) and one of the tears was an autographed book from him (i thought it was an interestign cause but i was more interested in the books)

3. LA game space/ a handful of indie games.

4. An art book/interview book which just got funded a week or two ago.

so what happened?

a) anipan is a website where you can post larger images if you want... i doubt it stops theft that much though.... the community is disjointed because of the lack of features like an inbox and the way the front page is set up is messy and favors 'popular' art so it's hard finding lesser known artist.... and even if you do findthem talking to them is a pain. one of the perks i paids for was a paid subscription to the site for a year... the sites been up how long and i have yet to see that pay off...
i feel ripped off by a site that barely works... and i knew that was a risk but it doens't change the fact that i would need something special to fund something again.

b) the prize was awesome (and already done) but the project didn't reach it's goal : (
so this time i was more annoyed cause i got excited for something i'll probably never have.

c) been hearing about the gae packs we are getting for la game space and it seems like if i were ever in LA it would be a neat place to visit... i don't feel ripped off by this cause i gave very little and it sounds like if nothing else i'll have a ton of indie games to talk about.

d) this was my gamble... it was not cheap.... but with the promise of interviews from people at Falcom and even art done by someone who works at falcom in the early days i had to give it a chance... if this doesn't end up working i will be pretty upset.

because like it or not i do feel like an investor, i gave you money.... i am hoping to get what you promised in return... and for it to be good.
because when things are bad people will not trust you so easily in the future.

It is nice to see people start taking the publishers side because that feeling of "i gave you money, how can you ask for more" is true in every medium... and while that is not always the case it may break the trend of praising the poor visionary who just wants to get their dream across when in reality they just need to be kept on a short leash lest they go crazy with power... which is good in my books...

near the end of the video it feels like they are arguing about two different things.
Yousif is arguing that he feels double fine has not lived up to their promises and even asked for more money for another game and a second round for this one and how thats not cool considering he raised 1000% more then he asked for.
Shawn seems to argue that this wont take down kickstarter.
ummm of course it wont... it's just one little failed/failing project.... BUT stuff like that will make the buyer even less likely to spend money and then the smaller less popular indie developers who actually NEED the money probably wont get any....

the way i see crowd funding is the way i look at grants.... when you apply for a grant you give a budget and a pitch and if they like it enough they will give you money under a bunch of stipulations...
if you dont' produce on time or try to ask for more money or produce something they see as being poor in quality then they will never give you funding again....
how grants continue to be given out every year despite some failures.
i think kickstarter is the same.... you burn me then no.... no more money for you..... but will KS care? no... they made their cut already.

i wasn't a backer of the double fine game, even though my earliest gaming memory is Full throttle... i feel that larger names using kickstarter is a bit.... ugh.... i don;t think they shouldn't i just wont support it... i'd rather give money to the little guy cause i think they need it a bit more.

anyways thats my opinion... i liked the video i just didn't feel like they were arguing the same thing... if that makes sense.

Completed: Oberons Dream (the godlanders war) by Aaron Pogue

So... a quick little story.... followed by a different kind of review.

today i went to the dentist cause i broke one of my wisdom teeth, while in the waiting room i pulled out my lovely kindle and sighed "i never get to spend time with you anymore... i'm too busy working on things.... i'm only halfway through this book by my fav author" *insert sadface here*
so i started to read and by the time i could leave i was at 70%.... not bad.
we get home.... about 30 mins later the power goes out...
and.... since i couldn't use my comp at all.... i figured i may as well keep reading my book.

then i finished it.
and was all
"but.... i write reviews right after finishing these.... but no computer"
*moment of silence*
then a lightbulb went off.... from the yeasteryear of highschool i did still have lined paper stashed away.
and even though my writing is chicken scratch.... i figured for this book... it's the PERFECT way to review it.

too messy: don't read;
i loved the book and this series is probably going to end up one of my favorites of his... you can get it for your ebook for 4ish bucks.

ok... onto the 'review'

told ya.... cursive chicken scratch...
is it true that they don't teach cursive anymore? so sad if true : (
but yeah... another great book, can't wait for the next one.

Completed: My Teen Romantic comedy SNAFU

AKA: My youth romantic comedy is wrong as i expected

but i'm just call it SNAFU.

1. I was dreading this show, the title was incredibly stupid
2. The art look pretty odd with strange designs and face placement on the characters which always puts me on edge.
3. it just looked like you typical Harem show.

Then i watched it.
boy was a surprised at how much i enjoyed this.

So the main character is Hikigaya, Hachiman. he was injured for the first chunk of highschool so he didn't have a chance to join a group at the same time as everyone else... therefor he decided that it was just better to be left alone... since most people find him odd or creepy to begin with... and no one can remember his name.
this isn't good enough for his teacher though and after one too many snarky papers being handed in she decided to fight back by forcing him to join the service club, a club dedicated to fufilling requests from students.
Thing is it only has one member... Yukino Yukinoshita. a lovely girl with class and bueaty and the personality of a robot... she is equally as lonely but unlike hikigaya she still stands out quite a bit even if she isn't well liked.
one of the people they help, Yui Yuigahama ends up joining the club because she has a crush on hikigaya after he helped her in the past.

so yes... this show has a romantic/haremesque feel....
BUT
Hikigaya is so dense and such a martyr and can't comprehend the idea of anyone being nice to him out of anything more then pity....
so that creates a more interesting relationship dynamic between the three of them... and unlike oreshura which added too many charcaters this stays small while still having quite a few reoccurring characters.

there is an open ended feel to how this series ends... it could easily have a second season.
I kinda hope it doesn;t.... this is slice of life and even though not everything is completely resolved i really enjoyed the character arc over the 13 episodes and if it goes any more things are just gunna go into same old same old territory.

The good:
memorable cast of characters.
Decent animation (though the style may take some getting used to)

The not so good:
if your not a fan of slice of life high school drama it may bore you.
stupid title is really stupid.... like i said it almost turns me off of it...

the bad:
could have used a bit more closure cause it does feel like it's left itself open for a season 2... and i just worry that that may be too much....


but seriously it's a really cute show and i think everyone should give it a shot.  

Little princess - From start to finish -

so the say after i finished my third Estelle series pic.... i realised i couldn't move/use my thumb/right arm at all.
being that i am right handed that really sucked... .
being that i'm a work-a-holic made it even worse.
still i knew it wouldn't heal if i tried to use it....

SO i claimed a mini hiatus, i would ice and heat and drug the shit out of my hand in the hopes that it would quickly heal and i could get back to drawing cause the instant you can't do something is the instant you get all the ideas.

this lasted a day.... and it was a brutal day... but i was good and didn't pic up any kinda of drawing implement (mostly cause i physically couldn't....)
The next day however i had gained movement back and some gripping strength so i did a quick 2-5 min sketch

Dawww i do love drawing chibi usa/small lady/princess serenity
still it was a success in my books.... i made it through without pain.
I didn't want to risk it though so i took the rest of the day off and inked it the next day... by this point some swelling had returned so again... called it quits and today i did the flat colour..... and then very carefully and switching to my left hand frequently i finished it cause dammit i have been working on this for 3 days and that's a long time for me (even if it was only maybe 2.5 hours total.)

still here's the finished product, i took some liberties with the colouring of the manga version of the dress cause.... well cause i can.
and i really just wanted to draw her holding a helios plush toy.

done in Paint tool Sai with some final touch ups in photoshop.

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