Akazora

-- Now and Then, Here and There Here's an anime you've probably never heard of. It follows the hardships of a regular Japanese boy who is accidentally teleported to an alternate world very different from the one we live in today and finds himself inadvertently involved in the wrath of a crazed dictator. To put it bluntly, this 13-episode show is heavy. There is very little room for levity and it leaves you feeling empty at the end of each episode. To say it's a sad anime would be a bit misleading though. It probably won't make you cry, but it will almost certainly make you uncomfortable. It's a frustrating and thought provoking show about war that requires you to be in a certain state of mind to enjoy. I personally enjoyed it quite a bit, but I certainly wasn't very happy while watching it. It lays on the despair and injustice a bit too thickly at times, which can easily deter people from finishing it. However, I implore anyone who watches this to watch it to the end. It will be difficult to find the motivation to, especially if you start having cravings for something more lighthearted and and little less suffocating, but I felt that the last few episodes were the best and stopping halfway through would be a shame. The animation was pretty decent for a late 1990s anime, and the scenery and world are something you'd find in a dream, or more fittingly, a nightmare. It's haunting and as disturbing as it is beautiful. The soundtrack had its moments as well. More so than the soundtrack, the voice acting in this show is impeccable. It isn't very often that I recognize high quality work in the sound department that isn't music, but it's noticeable right off the bat with an anime like this. As far as characters go, the main character might turn some people off. He's headstrong, energetic, and has a mindset similar to Shirou Emiya's, if that gives you a good perspective. He would have been even more insufferable if not for the existence of the main antagonist of this anime, who is probably my least favorite anime character of all time, and that's really saying something. All in all, this anime isn't for everyone. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't recommend it. That doesn't mean you shouldn't watch it though. If you're in the mood for a heavy, emotionally stirring war anime, then this is something you should watch. However, it can be so unsettling at times, that I couldn't, in good conscience, force it upon anyone. This is something you should watch only if you've personally decided you want to. Dennou Coil Oh Dennou Coil, you crazy little anime, where to begin... You probably haven't heard of this show either. But unlike Now and Then, Here and There, I highly recommend you watch this. Not even four big ol' gifs can accurately portray what this show is all about. It's fast paced and slow, sad and funny, silly and serious, episodic and story-driven, all in one big package. It's even difficult to put the premise into words. In short, though this doesn't nearly describe everything that this anime is about, the show follows a girl who moves to a new city in a futuristic society, where people wear glasses that project digital images into real life. If the images weren't evidence enough, this show is gorgeous. It's a full 26-episode series from 2007, but its animation quality and consistency exceeds that of many of today's shows. It also boasts some of the best, if not the best, CGI and hand-drawn animation integration I've ever seen in an anime, though series like Fate/Zero and Shingeki no Kyojin did a pretty decent job during their action scenes as well. The soundtrack is varied and especially good during the intense and emotional moments. The characters are quirky and seem a bit weird at first, but they're easy to warm up to. The plot initially appears disjointed, and it certainly doesn't help that the story drops you right in the middle of this futuristic world without any explanation. As such, it's easy to dismiss this show as merely mindless eye candy, but that's far from the truth. When things begin to fall into place and the plot picks up at the halfway point, you'll find a mysterious and haunting story with its fair share of plot twists and intricacies. This anime also has a good amount of light-hearted and humorous moments as well. In fact, some of my favorite moments from this show are the funny ones. Instead of feeling out of place and atmosphere-breaking like in other shows, the humor in Dennou Coil is on point and helps to give character to and develop the cast of the show. It's a real shame that this series is as unpopular as it is. It's probably partially due to the fact that the show isn't licensed in the States, and also has a noticeable lack of official merchandise save for a couple of art books. After marathoning all the episodes yesterday, it immediately became one of my favorite anime of all time. The plot went by really fast at times, and I'm sure I missed a couple of details here and there, so a rewatch is definitely in order a couple of years from now. Anyone who can spare the time should definitely watch Dennou Coil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwJNHzFqtCQ LESS THAN FIVE MORE DAYS

THIS WEATHER I NEVER KNEW I WAS DEPRIVED OF SUCH HIGH QUALITY SNOW UNTIL NOW WE HAVE SNOW FOR DAYS ALL HAIL LAKE ERIE, OUR LORD AND SAVIOR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iug12DnMNHQ Question, question ~

『Crying Doesn't Mean You're Weak. Enduring Doesn't Mean You're Strong.』 - Hai to Gensou no Grimgar's 5th episode title

Dropped $29 for this Toriel plush and expansion pack. What have I become? What is wrong with me? Nobody ever trust me with money.

INSANEINTHERAINMUSIC IS IN CHARGE OF THE OFFICIAL UNDERTALE JAZZ ALBUM WAHHHHHHHHH I'm so happy for him! His jazz covers are sick and we have similar tastes in video games so ayyy Hopefully he gets more exposure now, since he has criminally low views for the quality and work he puts into his arrangements. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw6EkI_AHDA

I'm more intrigued by that Heiji x Kazuha movie 21 he's promising, to be honest. And wow, some of these postcards have interesting tidbits on them; I'll look through them all when I have time later (haha, he likes Mikasa...). But yeah, I think it's safe to say we can change the articles now. It's a bit tedious to have to say "middle brother" and "mysterious child" all the time. Even if Gosho throws us a curve ball, which he probably won't this late in the game, changing the articles back to their original state shouldn't be much of a hassle, I don't think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV8UyymA9DE Ugh, wish this was part of Umbra Clock Tower's music selection.

Bayonetta: Bloody Fate To get myself prepped for Bayonetta's Smash debut last night, I watched the movie adaption of the first game. I knew it was going to be bad from what fans of the game had said about the movie, but even so I enjoyed it for what it was. I'm too lazy to write up a review, so I'll just leave Demo's thoughts on the movie here for you to watch since we agree on just about everything and he says things a lot better than I would. Even if I didn't "like" the movie, I certainly appreciate Bayonetta as a character more and enjoy playing as her in Smash more than I would have if I had just gone in blind. In fact, I'm so intrigued I'm almost tempted to continue the story and play Bayonetta 2, hmm...

NO BETTER WAY TO CELEBRATE CORRIN AND BAYONETTA'S RELEASE THAN WITH SOME BOTANICSAGE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axU_tU15UWw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pommUQ2BkHg (they costed a bit more than I expected them to, oh dear...) But they're still both hella fun to play as!

Huh, the more you know...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMN7mfxkXuw Whew, can't believe I've been anticipating this game since Brawl was popular. How long as it been? 6+ years of speculation at least. Damn, that's longer than I've been here on this site. Thank you Sakurai for everything you've done! If this is indeed the last Smash game you ever make, then you certainly went out with a bang.

...... Well? Why can't they?

"Hopes and Dreams" and "His Theme" Mix ^Legit spoilers up in here, but the arrangement is fantastic, especially at the 2:56 mark. Not a specific favorite, no. I love all the battle themes though, as well as a couple of the other soundtracks, but it's too difficult to pick a single favorite.

Spent hours learning how to use Rainmeter, and now my desktop looks smexy as heck. Unfortunately, I haven't done my homework yet. And I have a lot of it. .........Oh well. Something something "determination"

Temmie . . . I'm kidding, but if I had to seriously choose a favorite character it would be Toriel. And uhh, yeah, it's actually a really cover...... ... ... . . . ?? Last song I listened to ^Undertale spoilers kinda not really but whatever

Doesn't look like I posted this here yet, but I bought myself a copy of the 999 fanzine a couple of days ago. I can hardly contain my excitement, and I'm already imaging how awesome a Virtue's Last Reward zine would be and oh gosh, I need to calm down, January isn't even over yet... And I probably won't be buying Project X Zone 2, upon further consideration. The demo was interesting, but I don't have the time (or even the money, to be honest) to throw at anymore 3DS games. I already have Shin Megami Tensei IV and Code Name: STEAM as impulse buys from Black Friday that I won't get around to until at least next year, and PXZ2 doesn't look like it's going to be a quick play.

There are tons better anime than Detective Conan out there for you to enjoy; go out there and broaden your horizons!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcW6vOsl0rY #TEAMBUTTERSCOTCH

Hm... wondering when you'll be back......

"All power comes from God. Certainly, but so do all ailments." - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSM30JC5bag HOW HAVE I ONLY JUST DISCOVERED THIS MAN OH MY GODS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5qjmI46dww Man, it would have been awesome if they had also made this song play on the Umbra Clock Tower stage.

Not sleep