Bata-kun no Atarashii Nikki/バタくんの新しい日記

No April Fools joke this year. I can’t think of anything witty to bring out. That Misato Mitsumi Cafe idea has been used up already. Someday, someone will make it a reality…I think.

I don’t plan on typing much this month because I’m trying to find a way to remedy my money problems. Unfortunately, I’m stuck at working in Milpitas and it’s a bother. I further prove my claim that I don’t have a good reason to go to Milpitas on a semi-daily basis. Not only that, I may have to give up my dream trip of going to Japan. I hate giving up pay checks for something important, but it’s what I have to do.

I will most likely get a second job. In fact, I don’t have much of a choice. I need to get a second job. Lots of people I know have a second job, but following suit, this will mean that I need to have one day off per week or two. I have to plan carefully from here on.

Anyway, I wish all of the participants of the That Anime Blog audition the best. I really did this for fun as I have said earlier. Nothing more.

Remember this entry? It appears that TAB is now doing the judging and surprisingly, I’m only up against four people. (Figured that there would be way more than that.) To be honest, I did it just for kicks. I don’t really expect to be the chosen typer. I just wanted to have fun with it.

Of course, if I win the spot, I don’t know. “Surprised” is an understatement in regards of how I’d feel. Yes, it’d be an honor to be part of the group, but like I said, I’d feel more surprised seeing that I only did this for fun.

When you see my entry, as of tomorrow, I will end up watching “Xenoglossia” just because it has opportunities that I’ll never get again. I tell you. If I had animation skills, I’d so make an “Imas” series in which the idols really are watched over by producers or something. Of course, it’d be troubling because how can you replace people like Kugimiya Rie-san? Simple. You can’t. Yes, the anime will do this, but they’re the Japanese.

Anyway, I can’t think of many witty quotes to say now. I think that Tsubasa, as in the owner of that dead Wingin’ site, is really upset about how Yukiho isn’t played by Ochiai Yurika-san now in the anime, but rather by Horie Yui-san. Yes, I know that it’s Horie-san, but we prefer to be traditional. Oh and it would be cool if someone could start a “Help Bata-kun Play ‘Pink Sweets’ Foundation”.

“(It’s) their (Sony) fault for not renaming the system to Lolistation and selling it with a ribbon and panties.” - Rid after talking about Sony’s new misfortunes.

I knew that some time this year, Rid would give me a silly quote. I have a feeling that this quote or another one of Rid’s quotes will win the award this year. I don’t know why. Ha ha ha!

Oh! If you want, you can send me quotes if you like. Who knows? I may pick one of your quotes to win the award.

Generally, I don’t like Mondays. (Yes, I caught this from Garfield. Heh.) Monday is the first work day and the first day you go to school (usually). However, I also don’t like it when I have a free Monday because you become bored easily. Fridays and Saturdays, I don’t mind being free, but Mondays, I do mind.

So, I’ve decided to make the best out of this Monday and work on some of the pages here. I have already looked over about a third of the entries so far as well and I might as well call it a day here. Tomorrow, I’ll finish up January’s entries.

Yeah, you really can tell how bored I am today. Ha ha ha! Seriously, I’ll think of a way to bust out of this slump.

Image from that Sagubooru site. =P

Hajimemashite! I am the most recent blogger to be added to THAT Animeblog: Bata-kun. I was added here because Impz wanted to be hit with my Zenkai Kiaidan. Ha ha ha! Seriously, I’m glad to help him and the rest of the crew any way I can.

Though my name slowly is being recognized by the anime blogging community, I have actually been holding a diary of some sort for four years. Besides THAT Animeblog, I run my personal blog, Bata-kun no Atarashii Nikki and I also have a tiny diary in my little personal site. You can check both sites in the About the Members section.

The reason I pretty much remained underground was because of the fact that lots of people know me as a gamer. Anyway, one of my all-time favorite series is “Justice Gakuen”. If that name does not ring a bell, “Justice Academy”, or better yet, “Rival Schools” and “Project Justice”.

For those that don’t know, “Justice Gakuen” is a fighting game series by Capcom that’s about to be a decade old later this year. You picked a team and you find out who has been wreaking havoc to all of the schools in Japan. (Obviously, the games take place in Tokyo because that’s where Sakura is from and you do see her in the first two games.) You travel to every school that has been attacked and of course, the source behind all of this madness is Mugen who is now dead. However, he did leave an impact on one of his sons, Hyou, as he did havoc himself.

Of course, Hyou’s brother Kyousuke, his cousin Batsu and his uncle Raizou made him think differently and Hyou became a different person. However, Mugen was furious over this and not only did he decide to give commands over Hyou again, he went out to hire two people to kill those traitors: Kurou and Yurika. Of course, Yurika was less eager than her younger brother, but her brother was too dedicated to this job.

What makes this series one of the most fun series out there is the fact that the game’s charm lies in its characters. Yes, some are dull in regards of fighting style, but at least the characters are interesting. Every school relates to each other. Taiyou, Gorin and Minami all have their link in Hinata, Natsu and Sakura. Gedou and Seijun hold a Kazama kid. There are many more links as well.

In regards of audio, yeah, the songs are not as memorable as those from “Street Fighter”, but they’re still that good. The first two games’ final theme song (the real trippy one) and Seijun’s theme song are some of my favorite songs ever. (I tell you, the final game has better rock music than any other game with a heavy rock soundtrack.) This is a very good series for hermits like myself because people like Ueda Yuuji-san and Orikasa Ai-san are here.

I still try to learn some new tactic in the series all the time. I try to create characters and even if I mess up, I still have fun. How many series can say this overall? Not many.

Go play a “Justice Gakuen” game if you haven’t done so. Yes, the series’s a school girl fan’s dream (or a nurse’s dream for some of you), but it’s fun. (I so can kill with Kyouko.) I know that the game can be too simplistic, but it works. (Maybe I can create a green hair loli for Impz? Ho ho ho!)

Unlike this winter, I’m going to watch a good amount of series in the spring. I’m watching “Oofuri“, as I’m a baseball fan. I’m also looking forward to “Hayate” seeing that it’s cute and “Gurren-Lagann” just because it has some cute girl named Youko.

I scratched off “Blue Dragon“. I don’t like the seiyuu changes and I was never a fan of Toriyama Akira-san’s art. “Devil May Cry“: why do I have a feeling that it’ll be horrid? I made a mistake in watching the “KoF” anime and I don’t want to make that same mistake here. (I probably drank some good sake to watch the “KoF” anime.)

When I heard about “Idolmaster Xenoglossia“, I wondered if making an anime about idols raising to the top is possible. It turned out to be much different. As much as I love the seiyuu here, I never liked seiyuu changes and I now question the direction of this anime. Animation-wise, it’s good, but for some reason, I can’t seem to catch on to this sci-fi move.

Whether or not I’ll scratch this off my list, I don’t know until the end of the month or so, but if I do, it’s a shame because I haven’t heard Sakurai Tomo-san’s name in like…well, forever and she was in the same boat as Shiratori Yuri-san. Oh, she’ll play as Azusa by the way who happens to be my favorite idol.

Well, there are my lists. If I do end up scratching off the “Imas” anime, that’s okay. I still have Sakurai-san’s older anime. Ha ha ha! I so need to do that soon.

So, right now in Japan is Hina Matsuri no Hi and “Justice Gakuen” Akira’s birthday. Yes, I’d rather be the poor sap holding all of the things the girl bought and I definitely wouldn’t mind doing this for Akira. Ha ha ha! Ahem!

Anyway, I might as well give my best wishes to Akira, even though she’ll never get them. The closest task would be giving those wishes to Tezuka Chiharu-san or to Capcom. That’s it.

Spring is coming up and I figured that I should prepare for the season. Spring is my favorite season of the year now these days because of the honest temperature and this is weird coming from a guy born in July. Summer used to be my favorite season as a kid, but when I got older, summer didn’t do much for me and it still doesn’t because I don’t look forward to my birthdays anymore.

What I’m doing right now is looking over the various anime series that’ll appear later this month and the rest of spring. There’s that and I’m analyzing how far will the Giants go this season. It’s been around five years since they were last in the playoffs, but this year, that’ll change given the changes they conducted.

Unlike winter, spring will actually have a good amount of series to look forward to. The only way I won’t watch these series is if Media Factory is involved in any of them. So far, it seems like I’m watching no series with them involved.

Seeing that yakyuu is coming up in both America and Japan as well as Canada, I’m going to watch “Oofuri“. There’s that and I grew up with baseball as I mentioned earlier how far the Giants will go this season. I’m also looking forward to “Hayate” seeing that it’s cute and “Gurren-Lagann” just because it has some cute girl named Youko.

Up to this point, I scratched off my list “Blue Dragon“. I don’t like the seiyuu changes and I was never a fan of Toriyama Akira-san’s art. “Devil May Cry“: I have a feeling that it’ll be horrid, which is why I scratched that off my list. I made a mistake in watching the “KoF” anime and I don’t want to make that same mistake here.

When I heard about “Idolmaster Xenoglossia“, I wondered if making an anime about idols raising to the top is possible. It turned out to be much different. As much as I love the seiyuu here, I never liked seiyuu changes and I now question the direction of this anime. Chupiler seems to like some parts of this, but for some reason, I can’t seem to catch on to this sci-fi move.

Whether or not I’ll scratch this off my list, I don’t know until the end of the month or so, but if I do, it’s a shame because I haven’t heard Sakurai Tomo-san’s name in like…well, forever and she was in the same boat as Shiratori Yuri-san. Oh, she’ll play as Azusa by the way. Yeah and she’s my favorite idol.

I guess that’s that? Suggest me a series that I should watch in the upcoming spring. Mata ne.

Note of 15:12: Chupiler showed me an image that shows every series for this spring. Enjoy! Ha ha ha!

Image by Megane.

I’ve been piled with so much work, I am actually having trouble thinking about what I want to type here. Am I finally becoming a grandfather? Maybe.

I plan on being a freeter again. I never liked my current job mainly because I go Milpitas for nothing really. I didn’t mind having it for like the first couple of months or so, but that was only because I was still living in Milpitas. After that, I really was serious about getting a second job or better yet, a new job. I actually wanted to quit around the time I moved back here to San Jose, but some people said that I should stay for a year.

The rain, which I never liked over the years, has killed off my plans this week. I was supposed to go to Milpitas to talk with a family friend about some issue the day before yesterday. Even though it looks clear right now, I don’t want to be hit with unexpected rain.

Daylight Saving Time will start in less than two weeks. Whoever thought of this idea was drinking some good sake. I never liked DST because you lose an hour of sleep and you move an hour closer to school or in my case, work. Why can’t America be like the Philippines and not have DST?

Next week for sure (and this time, I am not going to joke around here), I will check all of last year’s entries as well as the entries of the first half or so of last month. I’m pretty sure some of them need fixing. When will I work on the other entries? I don’t know.

I forgot that tomorrow is March and I better start thinking about what series to watch this spring. There’s this one Gainax series with a girl named Youko, but I forgot its name right now. What I did not forget is the the fact that I will not miss this series. Other than that, there are not many series I can think of to watch this spring.

For some reason, outside of “Nodame Cantabile”, the winter series have not done much for me. I still haven’t watched “Nova”, even though there are people out there that don’t like it for some reason. (I’m just watching it for the seiyuu and not much else to be honest.) I may like Koyasu-san, but no one ever said that one seiyuu can hold a series together as this is the case in “Saint October”, I still don’t know if Hayashibara-san has a role in “Manabi” to make me watch it seriously and “Hidamari Sketch”, as cute as it is, is no “Azumanga Daiou”.

Oh. It is Chun Li’s birthday in Japan right now. While I do admit that I picked her the most in “Street Fighter II”, the percentage of times in which I picked her in any form of fighting game has dropped severely and it’s not because she barely young for the lack of a better word. It’s that she has changed so much, I can’t keep up with the changes anymore. Well, there’s that and I started using Sakura and Ibuki more.

I’m not going to mention her “SF II” form because she has always been a nightmare for opposing players for the most part. While she was good in the first “Zero” game, she got worse with every game that followed and it really showed in the final “Zero” game as well as “Upper”. It’s good that she came back in the final version of “III”, but outside of the Houyoku Sen, there’s not much else that impresses me about her. She’s a very good tournament character and she’s the only character I finished “Third Strike” with, but despite all of this, I never did fully grasp her. Yes, you have to rely on her normal moves more, but I’m one who loves to utilize special moves.

Seeing that I mentioned Ken earlier this month, I probably picked Ken more than Chun Li in “Third Strike”. What’s unusal about this is that rarely do I find myself in a “Street Fighter” game or any other Capcom game for that matter in which I pick Ken more than Chun Li. I take that back. Now, it’s so common for me to pick Ken over Chun Li in various games. This wasn’t the case back when I was still in elementary and middle school.

Well, here’s my best wishes to her. That did not sound right, but that’s okay. You’ll always be 18. Ha ha ha!

Added notes as of 12:03: the name of the Gainax series is called “Maikin Breakthrough Gurren-Lagann”. The link is here. Good that Rid was talking about this the whole time.

Before I forget, the site looks fine. There’s no need for me to talk to Maestro. So, yay.

Gong Hei Fat Choy! Chuc Mung Nam Moi! Yes, I’m late for saying those two, but anyway, it’s now the year of the pig.

Right now, I’m doing what I can to make the site better overall. That and I’m being a lazy bum as of late. Don’t ask. I’ll reveal my reasons some other time. That is if I am not too lazy right there as well. Ha ha ha!

Oh! Neoryu finally makes a serious update. It’s a small update, but it’s an update never the less. I will make a small update on our site as well. He couldn’t stand having Kenshirou his moe anymore. XD

The last few days, I’ve realized that I shot myself in the foot and I’m still going to be doing that. Why? Some time late last year (probably October), I preordered the new “Card Fighters Clash” game and that seemed like a good idea at first. After the game was released last month, some people don’t like the game at all and now, I’m starting to think about getting rid of my preorder.

Not bad enough? I plan on watching “Hidamari Sketch“. This is really great news until you realize that I’m now going to be watching three Friday series starting the day after tomorrow. The reasons why I can’t skip this series are that it’s based on a yonkoma (a thing I love), it’s a Shaft series and it’s being directed by Shinbou Akiyuki-san. Oh, it’s a TBS anime and I love watching TBS anime series.

I thought I’d have to watch a fourth Friday series next month, but thankfully, “Dancougar Nova’s” air time on the 15th of next month does not go past midnight and into Friday. I generally don’t watch these series because I am more of the comedy type of person, but since a couple of people I know of are really interested, I figured that I should watch it as well. Also, of the series I will be watching when next month comes around, this series will have the strongest seiyuu cast with Ikezawa Haruna-san and Kuwashima Houko-san leading the way as Aoi and Kurara respectively.

I was supposed to watch “Manabi Straight” the day before yesterday, but I unfortunately had to work the day before and late too. Oh and I can’t forget that I worked that day. Thankfully, this is a Monday anime. So, I don’t have to do any dropping of some sort. I might watch it later today, though I really hate catching up on series. At least it has Horie Yui-san, Nonaka Ai-san and Hirano Aya-chan as Manami, Mika and Mei respectively. Hayashibara Megumi-san (a name I felt like I haven’t heard in forever) sings some songs here, though I don’t know if she’s going to play as some character later on.

Right now, I’m going to fix this site, though I won’t do much. I have to do laundry and I still need to make that order I didn’t make last week. I so need to fix my car up, but I’ll do that on Sunday most likely. Oh and I am not going to bother playing the name game in regards of Kris Aquino’s baby because I already am frustrated with another game in the new “Yoshi’s Island” game. I am busy figuring out how to complete a certain level there.

I so need a doppleganger. Then, I can go back to sleep and watch more anime. Ha ha ha!

Uh, this will really be the last post of the month. My next entry should be three weeks from Saturday. Hopefully by then, I have caught up on sleep. Seeing that I’ll be gone for a while, I better say a special message before I end this entry.

誕生日おめでとうございます水樹さん！ ^^

Well, that’s that. I’m going to do what I have to do. じゃまたねみんなさん。

Notes of 14:10: this updating is a mess. I really want that “Jasugaku” (”Justice Gakuen”/”Jasutisu Gakuen” for those that don’t know) yonkoma book, but I am not having much luck finding this one Geese book for Chupiler or that yonkoma book. I forgot to mention that I saw some images of the Comiket of last month, but I forgot the links already. I really want to go back to sleep. –’

Impz of THAT Anime Blog brought out a post to tell people how to get people to see your blog. Of course, I just had to do this sort of thing sooner or later. Well, why not now?

I bet you’re thinking, “What makes you think that you can do this sort of thing? This site has been up for only two weeks. It’s too early”.

You have to remember that though this site’s only a little over two weeks old, I’ve been doing this sort of task for four years. That’s quite a while, ne? I have had entries lost before, meaning that I did go through a lot. Also, remember that I was pretty much an underground person; so, only a few people did ever get a chance to see my entries.

I guess those are my notes. I guess I can start my speech on this. Here I go.

So, you want to make your anime blog. This is definitely understandable. Omedetou! You did step one, which is to have desire! I should tell you that having an anime blog or any sort of blog for that matter is easy if you’re in the correct surroundings and you have the resources. Having a blog with people seeing it is not.

I am going to give off pieces of advice to help you start your blog. Do take note that they may not be the best pieces of advice overall, but they do work if you’re given the right kind of help. I can’t find the words I really want to say, but I hope those words give you an idea.

1. Desire

I already mentioned that you completed step one in having a desire to make a blog. I just hope that your passion lasts for a long time. As Impz said, if you put your heart into writing, or typing in this case, something, it shows and it will get people to read what you placed down.

2. Type

As weird as this may be, know what kind of diary it is. That way, you will know what approach should you take. Anime blogs have a different approach from other kinds of blogs and I’ll tell you various reasons in a bit.

3. Name

After you got your type, you need a name. Find a name that is not only suitable, but easy to remember as well. It’s that easy.

Three thoughts came up when I wanted to name this blog “Bata-kun no Atarashii Nikki”. The first thought was I already have two diaries: my personal site one and my fan group one, and it’s obvious that this will be a new diary. The second thought’s that I still say “diary”. The last one was that I planned to type in kana and kanji, which is why I have the name “Bata-kun no Atarashii Nikki” and not “Bata-kun’s New Diary”.

4. Post rate

This is a tricky item to work with. For a personal site diary such as my personal site one, you can bring up an entry whenever you want. If you’re working with an anime blog however, you need to post up a good amount of time, especially early on. At least 3 posts a week is a good rate. 3 posts a day’s overkill though. It’d be nice if you have a set pattern also.

5. Typing quality

This will take a while to go through. Many people will tell you that typing quality is the big matter to remember in regards of typing up a blog. As a former editor, this is where I both agree and disagree.

Let’s start with why I disagree. I didn’t become an editor because I had the skills for the most part. I became an editor because I loved doing it and I still do as well the fact that I like helping people. In fact, seeing that this is mainly an English blog, English was my worst subject after science. The big matter to remember is well, the first step I mentioned.

As for why I agree, content is well, the heart of the blog. You’ll definitely not go anywhere if your entries don’t make sense to begin with. It’s understandable if the reader doesn’t get the joke you’re bringing out, but make sure that you’re typing an entry that the person will understand in the end.

Now, like the post rate, typing quality is real tricky to work with. Typing an entry here is like typing an entry in my personal diary. The opposite is also true.

I’m sure you remember the quality issue already, but you have to keep in mind that for your personal diary, you can in some cases get away with having a paragraph go on for a while. For an anime blog however, you will have a hard time. An anime blog is like a fan sub. A viewer can tolerate so much and you can bend grammar rules. If your entries take up less than half of the monitor, aim for 10 lines. Aim for 5 if they take half or more.

Though this doesn’t really apply to personal diaries, make sure you have intersesting post titles. Why? That way, people are more likely to come back to your blog.

Oh! Typing quality doesn’t only apply to what’s present. It also applies to little things such as originality and timing. I’m not going to bother explaining more than that as Impzie gave a good explanation already.

6. Layout

If content’s the heart of the blog, the layout’s the body of the blog. The layout is important because outside of the name of your blog, the layout will be the first thing your viewer will see. It’s nice to have both flash and quality, but if you can’t do both, focus on the latter.

What you want to do is to have a layout that will be easy on the viewer’s eyes. Most people will use a white background and the text will be in black. Sometimes, gray and some shade of blue will be used as well. I generally like this layout, but one of the few diaries I like in which it does not have a white background is Akamatsu Ken-san’s diary. Also, make sure it’s organized.

In regards of images, many blogs out there love images and place up lots of them or place up at least one image per entry. I don’t like them as much as other people in general (and not just in blog entries) because not all of us have a good connection. There’s that and I don’t have much to work with. I think that you should place up a good amount of images to really feel welcome. I personally like one image, like what I did here.

All three of my diaries are have their similarities and differences. They use a white background and black text. They also use the y/m/d format and the 24-hour format. That’s where the similarities end. My fan group diary’s pretty bland and the same goes for my personal site’s diary, but the latter is influenced by various entertainers’ diaries, including Akamatsu-san’s. This blog will utilize images more than my other two.

7. Announcing

Now that you have your blog set up, you will obviously not get readers to come to your blog if you don’t tell people about it. Go to forums. Go to popular blogs. Let people know that you have a blog.

Besides AB’s antenna, sites like Anime Nano and Blogsuki help also. Once in a while, I comment in other people’s blogs. I also tell various people and not just friends about this blog because I cover various forms of entertainment. I will admit that I don’t visit a lot of forums in general because of what I do.

8. Luck

It may not seem like it, but having some sort of luck helps. This doesn’t apply to having a reader come over to see the blog only. This also applies to what you want to type about. You can’t always think of a topic. Sometimes, the topic lands on you.

Well, that’s that. I hope your blog turns out to be terrific. Ganbarimashite soshite asobimashite kudasai ne! ^^