3 Seiyuus I can't stand

As you can see in my previous post, there's a whole ton of seiyuus I keep an eye out for. Of course there's still a lot of talented people I didn't nominate a role for, like Inoue Marina, Sawashiro Miyuki, etc. Of course, at the same time, there are also ones who I can't help but dislike. These people are big names with tons of fans - so while I might be the unpopular opinion here, I'm pretty sure that I am not alone.

Nogizaka Haruka, Toujo Aya, Satellizer el Bridget, Ichinose Kotomi

3. Mamiko Noto (4292 favourites, #15 on MAL)

Most cringe-worthy role: Nogizaka Haruka (top left)

I've always thought that she had the most generic "soft" voice there is in the industry, so I was surprised that people actually liked her. I never did, but I never hated the voice either until Nogizaka Haruka. Back then when Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu came out, I had the dumb pride of never dropping a title just so that I could write a fair review. And trying to finish that title was pretty much torture. While it doesn't apply to all her "soft" roles, every time I heard Haruka's half-crying, half-gasping voice I had wanted to punch her (the character, lol) in the f-cking face. That title still haunts me.

It's funny. I had wanted to write a post like this for a long time, and I was sure that I'll be putting Noto in the #1 spot. But I soon started hearing her non-"soft" roles, and guess what, it's pretty darn good! I'm mostly referring to Tomoe in Hanasaku Iroha here, but it just proves that she can be pretty awesome outside of her character archetype. And that pushes her back into the #3 spot.

Preferred roles: Anyone that isn't a pushover, e.g. Wajima Tomoe, Felicita (Arcana Fagmilia)

Nanael, Nagase Minato, Nonomura Ayumi, Lucy Heartfilia

2. Hirano Aya (12582 favourites, #2 on MAL)

Most cringe-worthy role: Nagase Minato (Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka, top right)

I was quite a "Harutard" back then, and a lot of people assumes I'm a Hirano Aya fan as a result. I thought I am, too. Then came Nanael (Queen's Blade), the first of many characters who made me cringe. She has a really pretty voice that also made her a good singer, but it's her exaggerated voice work that ruins it for me. Her loud, animated voice does suit over-the-top characters like Haruhi very well, but it's not always the case. I guess it's usually worse with the weaker characters, because Lucy (Fairy Tail) wasn't as bad as the less well-known characters like Ayumi (Hyakko). Maybe it's her tendency to overact the less popular ones?

I do really like her role in Misa (Death Note) and Konata (Lucky Star), and her recent minor role in Arisa (Girls und Panzer) was pretty good too. It's beautiful when she doesn't sound like she's on drugs. It's too bad we're unlikely see many (or any) roles for her in the future because of her scandal. Fucking your whole band is a risky thing to do when you're in the "purity is gold" business...

Preferred roles: The less girly, the better. I always thought that she got a pretty good boyish role... am I mistaken?

You already know these characters.

1. Kugimiya Rie (13585 favourites, #1 on MAL)

Most-cringe worthy role: Everyone after Shana.

Why is she the voice I can't stand the most? Does the pic give a hint? You know, I don't even need the four famous ones for the pic.

Kanzaki Aria, Astarotte Ygvar, Rose, Sanada Yukimura

Well, she's called the Queen of Lolis for a reason. The problem is that besides sharing the exact same voice, they are pretty much sharing the same fucking traits. Tsundere, violent, childish, falls in love with a pathetic male protagonist. I don't blame her, though. She's good at what she does, there's a high demand, and the industry is churning these characters out like cockroach eggs. But do they have to put KugiRie in like half of them? Look, I actually liked Shana, but when they start producing a thousand Shanas off the cloning vat, it gets really annoying.

Unfortunately, there isn't a character I find that she's particularly good at. Except for Shana clones and cats, I don't really think there's a suitable archetype for everyone's favourite seiyuu.

Preferred roles: Anything not loli.

P.S I would have liked to put Satomi Arai here, but there just isn't enough characters of her I hated, and I kinda liked Kuroko...

The weakest link in Hidamari Sketch

Let's take a look at the characters of one of my favourite titles, Hidamari Sketch. I know the defining traits of the characters are not always important in "healing" animes, but let's do it anyway.

Yuno

- Our titular protagonist and narrator.
- Innocent but extremely earnest.
- Not quite your average airhead, but she is fairly clumsy and often the butt of jokes.
- Easily appreciates the simple pleasures in life, which is responsible for more of the "feel-good" emotions of the title.
- Voiced by the not-quite-so-irritating version of Asumi Kana.

Miyako

- Everyone in Hidamari-sou is paired up, and Miyako's our Yuno's BFF, being the in same year, same class, and moved in at around the same time.
- Dirt poor, and but has an extremely outgoing and cheerful attitude.
- Lacks common sense, but has extremely high artistic potential, and surprisingly high athletic ability, especially for an arts student.
- Always hungry and begging/stealing people's food. Because most of the nutrition went into her tits.
- Like Yuno, she easily finds fun in in the simplest of stuff, even if some of which are disgusting/weird to the others.

Hiro

- "Motherly" character for the residents of Hidamari-sou.
- Known for her cooking ability.
- Known for her appetite.
- Also known for being extremely conscious of her weight, her many diets and failure to keep at them.
- Always positive and encouraging, especially for Sae.
- The most mature character in the cast, and often able to tell what the others are really thinking.

Sae

- The pairing character for Hiro, and in the same class as her. Sometimes she is regarded as the "fatherly" character.
- The "serious" role in the cast, often doing the tsukkomi for Yuno's random faux pas, Hiro's jokes and Miyako's antics. Often the one to point out the logical fallacies of others.
- Surprisingly easily embarrassed, for her (not implied) lesbian tenancies towards Hiro and obviously fake romantic experiences.
- And usually the most stressed out of the group, juggling school and work as an amateur writer at the same time.
- Has a tsundere admirer.

Nazuna

- She is literally Yuno right at the beginning of HidaSketch with all of her traits quadrupled.
- And that actually qualifies her to become a true airhead. Clumsy, often helpless, distressed, etc.
- Unlike Yuno, she's voiced by the worst possible version of Omigawd Chiaki.
- Silly hairstyle
- Actually not an art student, unlike everyone else.

(what was her name again..?)

Nori

- She has a computer.

I'm not a big fan of the new additions to HidaSketch. Nazuna is the epitome of a stereotypical character with a ton of exaggerated traits. I guess she adds to the show by being worst in art than Yuno, since she had absolutely no art potential at all. But everything her role could do, Yuno could have. I think she's just here to bring back the "clumsy innocent girl with little talent" gap left by Yuno after she graduated from that stage.

Nori complements Nazuna perfectly by having literally NO traits at all, except for the fact that she's the only one who owns a computer. Seriously, even her character icon is that of a computer mouse. MAL described her as "the most level-headed and normal out of everyone"... isn't that the role filled by Sae? Even supporting characters like the landlord, Yoshinoya-sensei and Chika are way more interesting than her. (Okay, maybe Yoshinoya-sensei doesn't count, because she's one of the most awesome character of all time)

It feels as though they exist only to fill up the numbers after Hiro and Sae graduated.

...And I found out why adults enjoy little kids anime

As the combination of both work and school starts to eat into whatever free time I had left, it became harder and harder to squeeze in time for anime. It seems like a common problem among the older anime folk; the older you get, the more you get swarmed with the hustle and bustle of real life, and time-consuming hobbies like anime become difficult. Admittedly, it wasn't really about the time; it was the stress and fatigue that makes it hard to get excited about something, even the most hyped title.

I've bitten off more than I can chew this season, trying to catch Arcana Fagmilia, Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, Kokoro Connect, Moyashimon, Muv-Luv, Natsuyuki Rendezvous, Rinne no Lagrange, Sword Art Online, Tari Tari, Yuru Yuri, Binbougamiga! and Joshiraku at the same time. That's more than I've ever attempted in one season, but mostly because the season's so good. It didn't go well...

Aside from Binbougami which totally sucked, Natsuyuki Rendevous became the first title I had to let go, followed by Kokoro Connect. Both were really good, and I really enjoyed it... well... actually, not really. I began to realize that story-intensive stuff like these were difficult to follow. Not only it's difficult to grasp the plot when I'm trying to grasp twelve at a time, it's also difficult to work a tired mind to comprehend a "deep" or complex storyline.

On the other hand, I began to look forward to stuff like Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, Arcana Fagmilia and Joshiraku. Stuff like these either doesn't have a story, doesn't have one that matters or at least are non-continuous for each episode. It's really easy to digest such stuff, and I probably enjoyed them more than I would normally do, much like last season's Upotte!!

Which reminds me of two things. First, a concept which was taught to me by Jerry Verschoor, a western animation industry insider, of how people prefer genres that compensate things missing in their lives (like how action movies are all rage now, while romance titles are favorites in the 1940s). Second, an article of how an unexpectedly huge amount of people my age enjoys My Little Pony (I can't remember where, probably Cracked.com or something). Laura Carstensen also revealed at TED on how people in their 20s are statistically the most stressed, and most miserable bunch.

Well I don't need My Little Pony, because I have stuff like Joshiraku and Upotte!! to de-stress my life. Now I know why the moéblob slice-of-life got so popular with the general otaku crowd. Ignoring the people who seeks 2D waifus, it's really about the stress. It's all for the relaxed, mind-blanking and stress-less moment each episode can give.

So from now on, I'll be leaving stuff like Natsuyuki Rendevous on the marathon queue, and only catch the ponies as they air. Thank Haruhi, Madoka and the anime gods for Hidamari Sketch next season. And that tank anime, whatever it's called. It sounds just about stupid and mind-numbing enough for me to enjoy it.

Looking back upon my first anime...

Well, okay. Love Hina wasn't exactly my first anime ever; I have vague memories of Nintama Rantarou as a kid, and at that age I'm pretty sure everyone have some memories of Gundam or Slayers or Cardcaptor Sakura, etc. But the first time where I began to see anime as anime and not just cartoon begins with Love Hina.

I gotta admit, I begin to see the difference between cartoon and anime mainly due to fan-service and moé. And even until now, it's still one of the main reasons I watch anime. It's a kind of appeal you don't find anywhere else, and it'll be hard to let it go after you got hooked to it. And back ten plus years ago when I bought my first ever manga, Love Hina is probably one of the best examples of these two traits. I was taken aback by what Love Hina tried to be, because I've never seen anything like that, nor did I thought anything like that was possible. Granted, Love Hina's fan-service is tame compared to the level they take it to nowadays, but back then it got popular because of it.

But somehow, somewhere around my 100th anime title, I began to see the likes of Love Hina as the culprit for the huge amount of crappy fan-service injection into anime. Whenever I see a customary harem fan-service anime of the season, I dismissed it as a tasteless sell-out that attracts attention based on how much T&A it has, "just like Love Hina". Even until recently, like Highschool DxD, Maken-Ki, Kampfer, Campione!, etc etc.

A few days ago, for no reason at all, I picked up the first manga I ever bought and read it. I'm surprised to realize how much I actually enjoyed it back then, and even more when I realized I still enjoy it as much as I did back then. It wasn't just trying to stuff the pages with as much tits as possible, it actually had a good story, characters, development of their relationships. And although the story went full-retard towards the end, it wasn't a string of poor excuses to bring in fan-service. It had meaning. It had the feel of the characters.

Where did it go wrong? Was it because Love Hina was part of the beginning of the chain of crappy fan-service titles? What was it that still set Love Hina apart from the long list of titles that follows? Was it simply the brilliance of Ken Akamatsu, it's originality, or because it's a pioneer? What was it that has amazed me back then, and surprised me a decade later?

How can I get back that feeling again?

Dropping Titles and Raising Standards

After struggling through 21 episodes of the first season of Hayate no Gotoku, I finally convinced myself that it isn't worth wasting all that time just so that I can fairly review a title. It's just one of the habits I've kept in my first years of reviewing anime for Anime-Source.com, where this is actually a rule (and because I wanted to be fair). But there's also one thing for certain: there are more anime titles out there than I have time for, and Japan is certainly producing anime faster than I can watch them. No matter how much I hate to leave things halfway done, I gotta make room for the bigger fishes in the sea; especially now that my free time are getting lesser and lesser.

Usually at the change of seasons that occurs 4 times a year, the blogosphere is filled with large amounts of reviews of ending titles, previews of upcoming ones, first impressions, etc. And I've noticed that shows that receive a negative remark always outnumbers the shows that receive a positive one. Yet if most of the titles released every season are crap, how does the studios still produce so many? I don't doubt that there's definitely a market for the "crap" shows, but I hardly see members of this market appear on the blogosphere to defend the highlights of those "crap". It's not like that particular market consist entirely of old lonely otaku men with a fetish for such stuff, and couldn't be bothered with the normal standards, right?

Amaenaideyo!!

I remember when I really got into this hobby around 6 years back, every anime I watched seems to be awesome, even stuff like Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Amaenaideyo!!. Well, I did scour the net for the best stuff to watch first, like Elfen Lied, Suzumiya Haruhi and Shuffle!, but I still have fond memories of the titles that I know now that are obviously bad now. It feels like I've been opened up into a new world of anime, and any title, as long it's anime, would have entertainment value.

Thing are now completely different from back then, and the ending season is the worst so far. I've previewed 11, completed 5 and find myself only really liking 2 of them. I know that the "me" 6 years back would definitely love stuff like Hayate no Gotoku! and Haiyore! Nyaruko-san, no doubts about that. I'm not sure if I'm tired of stuff like this already, or has just been steadily increasing my standards over the years.

If raising standards is the cause, then I think that might be the reason why the blogosphere is so hard on most of the anime titles that are released every season. Commenters are influenced by bloggers; and bloggers, me included, are usually seasoned anime watchers that has at least a hundred titles in their MAL. And I won't be surprised if half of them would be in the ~350 range like me. Except for a few exceptional titles every now and then, the anime industry isn't very good at reinventing themselves. Once they've picked up on traits and tropes like "tsundere", "clothes that accentuate breasts", "cute girls doing cute things", "blushing for god knows why", "huge eyes", "striped panties", "cat ears", they'll keep it running frigging forever until people got sick of it.

But, unfortunately, these are the same traits that got people, -most people-, like you and me into the world of anime in the first place. And we still cling on to some of these traits, as long as it's given in modest servings, because that's what makes it an anime to us. When a particular "crap" title tries to overload itself with a certain trait or trope, they were just trying too hard to sell "anime" to us. Maybe if we could learn to appreciate their less-than-fruitful efforts, we may be able to go back to where we were at the very beginning; where every anime appears to be awesome.

Just some food for thought. I'm not going to give Hayate no Gotoku a second chance.

Since when did a bittersweet ending make an anime great?

The post contains major spoilers for multiple anime; you have been warned.

Kagami no Kuni no Harisugawa ends

This is actually old news, because the decision was made (it was plenty obvious anyway) in the previous chapter which was released nearly a month ago. The final chapter is a little more than another fan-service chapter, with an open ending to the relationship between the two. (or possible the three... iykwim)

The thing is, the decision was declared barely a month after I made a post celebrating his new project after a long hiatus. Am I a jinx or what? Although I'll admit that Kagami no Kuni no Harisugawa was pretty underwhelming as compared to his previous two works, and the reception had also been pretty bad, I didn't expected it to end so soon. This makes it his shortest serialized work so far with 3 books, behind Pretty Face's 6 and MxO's 10. With what seemed like an attempt to expand the storyline with the school trip arc, I don't think Kano planned it to end so early, so yeah, I guess he got screwed again.

Ironically, Kagami no Kuni no Harisugawa has the most conclusive ending amongst his works so far. His most successful project, MxO, actually had the worst ending.

Damn.

I'm gonna have to wait another few years for his next project again.

And please, Kano, don't run it on WSJ again. You know these are not the fans you're looking for.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Happy Lunar New Year to all the Chinese anime fans!

OMOD is on a short hiatus due to that, plus I'm still settling in my new job.

P.S. This season is awesome!

Anime Blog Carnival Roundup: What makes a 10/10 anime?

A 10/10 anime by all standards

At the end of the carnival, each of us is supposed to do a roundup post that summarizes our thoughts and findings in the carnival. While the objective of the roundup post is pretty vague, it gives us the freedom write whatever we wanted on the carnival. It isn't compulsory and sometimes only organizer is required to write one, but since this is a hobby we're writing about, and being the very first Anime Blog Carnival, I thought it'll be a good opportunity to share.

Well, first of all, I didn't realize that Anime Blog Carnival can be abbreviated as ABC. Cool, huh?

Anime Blog Carnival! - What makes a 10/10 anime?

Welcome to a blog carnival! What is it about, you ask? Well, the exact definition is subjective to the participants, but generally a blog carnival is an event where several bloggers get together to write and discuss about the same subject. It's a fairly simple concept that allow bloggers within the same blogosphere to talk about a particular topic, and although the idea that has been used in other blogging circles for a while now, strangely enough it is almost unheard of in the anime blogging community.

And so, I've got several fellow bloggers interested to join in this round of the carnival. Marina, Sam, Marow, Nopy, Draggle, Mira, AceRailgun, Leap250, Yumeka, SnippetTee, Ephemeral Dreamer, Hoshiko and Yi would all be publishing their post sometime today (or tomorrow, depending on their timezone), so be sure to check out their opinions on the subject too.

New Year (Anime) Resolutions, Site Update, Anniversary, Changes, and gosh, I don't know what I'm talking about

(Sorry for the excessive expletives)

First of all, Akemashite omedetou minna-san! May we all have a good year ahead of us. Well, 2011 is a pretty bad year for anime, to me at least. Except for the best-sellers, I can't even say confidently that I loved all of my top 12 picks. As long as we're not all going to die, 2012 would definitely be better. I hope.

Well, this would be a tl;dr rant. I hate posts like that, truly, and I almost never read tl;dr anyway unless it's MAY, so if you're anything like me you should bounce now, really. The above paragraph is all that is for this post. My head is now full of shit (again, sorry for the excessive expletives in this post) and I just need to get stuff out before I can continue blogging like I want to.

12 Moments of Anime #10: Seiyuu Controversy

Aoki Ume's version of Toyosaki Aki

I'm late, and well, something cocked up, and I think I crashed Anime Nano for a while a few days ago. Something I scheduled for the 30th of this month got published immediately, somehow. And it was dated 30th on Nano as well.

Anyway, I wasn't too keen on writing this because this is about the uglier side of the anime industry, and I don't really want to be part of seiyuu-bashing in any form, but, well... decided to anyway, since this is one of those things that quickly got right on top of my head when I thought of 2011.

12 Moments of Anime #5: Series of Disappointment

One of the disappointments (apparently) that I didn't watch myself.

Every now and then we get a highly-anticipated series that turns out to be a flop. It could be due to its studio, original work (for adaptations) and/or crew that we gave it so much attention, but when we finally got to the show itself, it's terrible. Shit happens, I know, but it seems like it happens way too often with 2011 titles. Titles like:

Guilty Crown Ep7 - 8 things to complain about

Only Shu can fall down and grab something inappropriate twice in a row.

I can't do it. I wanted to see the worth of GC without the clichés and non-logic, but I've seen too many other series for that to happen. Actually, I don't think anyone who had seen a decent amount of films (of any sorts) can do that either. Sorry I took so long to realize. I guess I'm just guilty about wanting to give the show a chance.

At least they're trying to keep the audience happy by introducing even more girls this episode. The sad thing is that none of them are very original either. So we need to introduce a mom? Let's make her ageless and sexy, because who needs old and wrinkly old ladies? Let's parade her in a lingerie and give her some skinship with the main character because why the hell not. It's not like it totally came out of nowhere...

Well... not in the context of Guilty Crown anyway.

Honestly, though, there should be a limit on how young you can go. Haruka looks even younger than Arisa. If not for the beer can they made her hold in her first scene, I would have assume they made a mistake and drew Shu's sister instead.

Apart from the introduction of new characters Arisa, Haruka and the muscle commander, this episode is mainly boring filler. Shu and Inori somehow went back to school, and Shu controversially became the most popular guy in class, with a little help from Arisa and his idiot friends. Funeral Parlor has a problem with supplies, so they Gai and Shu sneaked into a anti-GHQ party in order to "negotiate" a deal with Arisa's grandfather, only to be attacked by GHQ because Gai intentionally leaked the info to the newly introduced commander. This prompted Shu to use Arisa's void and transform the incoming missiles into fireworks to complement the orchestra music of the party, who are completely oblivious to their impending doom.

So, yeah, not very interesting to talk about, so I'll give you a list to complain about instead. GC being the kind of show it is, does made it easy to create a list of this sorts.

Things to complain about:
1. Talk about cheap: they used a grand total of SIX frames to play out Arisa's backstory and family situation AND the objective for the party.
2. God, Haruka's so far away, yet the first thing Shu did is to run in the opposite direction the very instant he saw her. And promptly bumping into other guests.
3. Why did Arisa ran after Shu which could possibly create a scene? Did Shu owe her money?
4. Crouch down behind a flower pot to pick up a call? Way to go trying to stay low. There's a fucking curtain beside you for you to hide behind.
5. Shouting at Gai who's at the second floor is pretty damn conspicuous.
6. How did Gai know that he'll be able to defend from the GHQ attack in the first place?
7. Can Arisa's void stop the impact of the missiles or not?
8. Arisa's way too easy. They're really overdoing the Gai=Cool thing.

Of course, you don't have to agree, but catching and ranting about these mistakes actually makes this more fun in the end. GC's probably the only anime that gives me this many things to complain about, so I might as well exploit it.

Why is Saimoe 2011 dominated by PM3?

For those who did not follow the tournament, it's already at the semi-finals. It's a fight between Madoka, Kyouko, Mami and Erica Hartmann from Strike Witches and frankly, I don't see how Erica could stand a chance beating a Puella Magi. She made it this far only because her Group B was really weak, except Kanade from Angel Beats whom she defeated in the group finals. And Lotte is a mistake. I figure that she had the support of KugiRiefags right until Shana 3 came out.

And believe it, the only reason Homerun-chan didn't make it is because the Puella Magi Madoka Magica spammers failed to plan ahead. Had they started what they did for the other Puella Magis earlier, there's no doubt we'll see Homerun vs Kyouko vs Madoka vs Mami right now. I mean, she did go against a very strong Biribiri right off the bat, but cheating has always been rampant in Saimoe so it's really about how many of these guys you got supporting a character. Oh, Biribiri has also been accused of inflated results...

FYI, Sayaka made it till the Quarter-finals which finished yesterday, only to be defeated by Madoka. So yeah, these girls are totally owning the tournament.

No, I'm not making a post to complain about the results, and I know well that the however it may seem, there's still a large degree of legitimacy. My favourites didn't make it very far, but I wasn't exactly "supporting" them anyway; I've long since accepted that the tourney is really about spammers that got away with it, and no, I'm not saying this as my opinion; it's a pretty well accepted fact. Watching the tourney is fun, and I'm not going to complain about the nature of the competition or the results, but the current standing of the characters makes me question something that has been nagging at me for a while: What's so moé about PM3 characters?

I've always had a problem understanding the appeal of some popular characters, namely Fate Testarossa, Hitagi Senjougahara, and most recently, Shiraume Ume from Ben-to. Granted, my favourites characters like Akiyama Mio and Misaka Mikoto usually display very common traits that appeals to the majority of the market, and I like them for the same reason as the other guy. I figured my tastes are fairly simple, which is why I questioned the appeal of the girls from PM3. I don't question Mami's awesomeness (or Homura's gap moé), but come on, Kyouko? She's been a bitch for as long as I can remember, even if she did have a tragic past people can sympathize with. And Sayaka? She's been so selfish that I thought her character was meant to be hated. And Madoka has only been angst-ing and crying for almost the entire series.

The story of PM3 is awesome, and I even gave it a perfect score. But none of the 10 points was moé points. The awesome story was brought forth by awesome characters, but not necessarily moé characters and to me, and that is definitely not the case for PM3.

What does the moé here means to you?

edit: As expected, Erica lost to Kyouko.

Guilty Crown Ep2 - Can't I not like what I see?

Remember kids, the future of combat lies in your ability to play Bejeweled. The game also respond to butts, but using your ass to play is detrimental to your high score.

Short summary: Shu learns more about the "Power of Kings" and how he can contribute as a terrorist. Inori joins Shu's class as a transfer student.

Is it better for WORKING'!! to be cute or funny?

When I wrote the review for the preview episode a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that the second season might be losing the original appeal of the show. And with the second season, I guess I had confirmed my fears.

So you heard of Baby, Please Kill Me?

I know everyone's all excited about the new season, but I'll like to take a moment to talk about the next one... as in Winter 2011. Actually, no. I'm just gonna talk about this one manga series.

So, I saw on moetron that this series is going to be adapted, and the extremely early chart confirms that we'll get to see it really soon. Damn, I can't wait.

So what's about this manga that would deserves a post? Well, Baby, Please Kill Me is an extremely simple 4-koma about Sonya, a professional assassin who actually attending school, and her dimwit "friend" Yasuna who can't leave her alone. It might not sound like much, but the comedy is of pure awesome. It starts off humbly like that of Mangaka-san to Assisstant-san to or even Working, I found this way funnier than any of the 4-koma I've ever seen.

It's just... it's so damn simple, it only has 3 characters, the manga has barely any detail, yet it is so full of fabulous. Damn, just go read it.

Boku wa Tomodachi wa Sukunai 00 - Omg, the voice

I've said this before, I have no idea why it had gathered so much popularity in Japan and on the internets. The manga is as boring as hell, and maybe I have not read far enough to see the reason for its popularity, but it looked like the lamest harem set-up you can imagine. But what the hell, I gave episode 0 a try anyway.

So, no surprises here that the episode failed to entertain me even a tiny bit. But I guess that it would work pretty well with the fans though. I have another problem. What's up with Yozora's voice?

Urg, I know I probably got used to anime high school girls squealing and screeching and talking in an extremely cute way or in a extremely high pitch, but that's totally different from what I've expected. In contrast to Sena's common cute voice and our well-abused dose of Hanazawa Kana, we get an very deep version of Marina Inoue. It sounds really weird. And out of place. Out of place in an anime, in fact. Now I picture Yozora with a voice of an Obaa-san, and that's one more reason for me to not like this anime. Relax haters, I've got big love for Marina, but her job on Yozora isn't going to win me over.

A lil blog update...

A minor disruption to the blogging schedule. Spent most of my free time in the last 10 days replaying Mass Effect 2 with all the DLC I haven't tried, and now I've got more than 10 episodes waiting to be watched. After seeing the new Mass Effect 3 trailers, can't wait for the game to be released.

We're at the end of the season, and I regret to say that I've not completed the Spring 2011 reviews yet. Gonna spend the next couple of days to finish them up...

Anyway, it seems like Steins;Gate ended up being one of the the most watched and most talked-about series of the season (and probably the year). I've dropped the show on its first episode because I'd prefer to marathon stuff like these. I plan to give it a shot soon, and see if actually rival Madoka.

In another news, all the K-ON girls got trashed in the first round of Saimoe. (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻