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

Sorry that the report took forever. I still needed to set up images. That’s why.

Well, this will most likely end up being the most detailed con report/rant of this year’s Anime Expo you’ll see. Keep in mind that this will be more ugly than the ladies that were invited to the early party in “Great Teacher Onizuka”. Okay, maybe that is a bit too extreme? It will still be ugly and that’s why I attached the word “rant”.

Thursday

I got picked up by Jorge/DarthRyu or rather, a friend of his. Though this was the first time I went to AX, I have not been to an anime con in which I’ve actually did pay for the entry fee or be part of the staff in three years or so. What’s ugly was that I had an irritated throat and I knew that I was going to have some cold.

We reached the Long Beach Convention Center at 18:30/6:30 P.M. or so. There was nothing I could do because I couldn’t buy my badge until the following day. I managed to talk with Ray/Inin and a whole bunch of other Bay Area people. We talked about what we’re doing these days, which in my case would be a lot.

Some time after that, we, Jorge, his friends and I, went to different paths and I thought I was supposed to stay at Queen Mary’s, but I entered the place one day too early. Too bad I left my wallet in the car. I really hate that wallet.

Well, I got to see Chupiler and his friends. I slept at his place, which isn’t really far from the event. So, at least that saved me.

Friday

Pretty much, all I did was stand in line for registration and I forgot that I didn’t have my wallet. It wasn’t until that evening I managed to get a badge. I took some photographs of cosplayers obviously seeing that I’d be here for a while. I did talk with a bunch of people and two south guys I met really emphasized on why Long Beach is a horrid place to hold Anime Expo and some other stuff.

After I got my badge, Chupiler, his friends and I went to have some Hawaiian dinner. Then, we went to Max Karaoke down in Torrance. This is probably the best karaoke experience I had. Period. Of course, I had an horrid throat and it was pretty late, but oh man. It was a riot. If you’re down south, go to Max’s!

The songs I picked were Chemistry’s “Kimi ga Iru” (「キミがいる」), “Tokimeki Memorial II’s” “Yuuki no Kami-sama” (「勇気の神様」), “Groovy!” (「グルービー!」) from “Cardcaptor Sakura” and a “Love Hina” song: “Yakusoku” (「約束」). I think “Yakusoku” now became my 18th song. “Yuuki no Kami-sama” was the only duet I did and I did it with Chupiler, who likes this song.

This was the only night, if I should be saying that, in which I stayed at Queen Mary’s and it was okay, even though there are those stories. Why did I get a bed? I don’t know. They pretty much prefer sleeping in unusual places. Heh heh.

Saturday

Though there were interesting moments this day, this really was the one day I was supposed to be in a serious mode. Part of what I supposed to was to see if Long Beach would be a city I’d move to in two or three years. Of course, at this point, the answer’s “no” not only because of its notorious history, but because of the structure of the city itself. I’d seriously move south, but not to Long Beach.

Saturday showed real signs of horror. We were waiting for a while in regards of the S.O.S. dan autographs. Guess what? They were pushed back a day. This may be a good thing until you realize that this royally messes up my plans because Momoi Haruko-san, Halko-san if you’re sassy, had her panel the following day. Now, I had to start deciding on whether I go have another shot at the autographs or go to the panel.

I didn’t get breakfast until way late in the morning because I left my stuff at Chupiler’s place. After my quick breakfast, I did eat at a place called Wasabi. I made my waitress who was serving me cutely confused because she’s not used to hearing the word “bentou” when I wanted the bentou special and she had to look at one of her coworkers who I was talking with when I came in. It was fun and I got some anime moments in.

Shortly after lunch, I met up with Shin ATProof, who managed to get a cell before the con. He mainly wondered how are my “Rage of the Dragons” skills now and I laughed not only because they were waiting, but because it’s “Rage of the Dragons”. Hardly anyone plays that game. Oh and yes, I did tell him that I can beat Johann with a keyboard, which tells you that I’m some sort of game god.

We went our different ways and I played a few arcades games to kill time as well as reading “Nodame Cantabile” in the manga kissaten. I played “Mushihime-sama”, “Dodonpachi”, “Act Cadenza” and Arc’s “Hokuto no Ken” game. I didn’t really play my hardest in the games because all I wanted to do was kill time. It showed in the shooters because I didn’t go far in either of them.

I told my opponent for “Act Cadenza”, “Watch me become horrible in ‘Act Cadenza’” seeing that I will always prefer “Final Tuned”. It was fun because we talked for a bit in regards of the game like who we picked. I picked Ciel and he was winning with Kohaku and Hisui. I did push him, but not enough to make it a three round bout.

I played “Hokuto no Ken” for the first time and I had a four game winning streak with Kenshirou, which wasn’t bad. Some game couple was teaming up against me. Ha ha ha! After I lost, I smiled, which is unusual for a situation like this because you don’t smile after you lose. I smiled not just because I had fun, but because I had to attend another important matter. This meant I had to miss the S.O.S. concert.

I met with Chupiler and his friends in the evening. They had to take care of matters in regards of the booth they were working with: Doujin Online. I managed to hear an “Idolmaster” album with the girls singing some random songs. We went to some Irish pub and I didn’t remember much what went on other than I was told by one of the AX staff members that I was a good man for knowing Chupiler.

Sunday

Sunday. S.O.S. Dan autographs or Momoi-san’s panel? I had to make a decision. Either way, I’d lose something. I ended up going to the Momoi-san panel because at least I get to experience something other than waiting in line. Not only that, this would be my panel day and adding on, I had an idea that I wouldn’t be getting for sure the autographs anyway.

I felt that I made the right decision because Momoi-san’s panel was a blast. Megane, Akibahara, Under 17, hearing Anise lines (”Tales of the Abyss”), why did her panel get less than an hour? I don’t know. Her panel should have been 2 hours long! That wouldn’t be fair for the other panelists now, ne? Ha ha ha! Well, she should deserve a 2-hour panel if she wants it.

Of course, the panel was not all joyful. Momoi-san was forced to cancel her autograph sessions because AX staff members were still planning out the concert. I’m like, “What is this?!” and I felt like I wanted to enter the Riot of the Blood state, but I kept my cool. Too bad I couldn’t take out all my anger on Vega and Geese.

Right after the panel, I bumped into Jorge and we shopped for various items. I bought for Jorge a “Rozen Maiden” figurine set and a Lumiere (”Kiddy Grade”) shirt. After that, we broke off again. I somehow found out that Circus (who is known as the company that made the “Da Capo” series if you don’t know) was having a panel that night and I figured that I should attend this panel as well.

Remember the two guys I mentioned when I was waiting in line for my badge? I met up with one of them, Dean, and then, the three of us, Ron being the other guy if I’m recall, decided to have lunch at Tokyo Wako. Of course, we had to do some waiting. I tell you. This con was all about waiting.

Once lunch was over, I told the guys I had other things to take care of. I talked with Richie/Richielikesmaids and we talked about the many things that went wrong in this con. It’d be cute if he got to watch over Momoi-san should she come to San Jose. Hee hee! Oh and we so could have had something like lumpia. Ha ha ha!

After Rich went off to sleep and I went to finish my leftovers, which I should have started doing in the first place instead of buying lots of food, I went to the Circus panel. Yes, I went to it instead of the masquerade contest. Anyway, the people presented were the producer Tororo-san and the two illustrators, Tanihara Natsuki-san and Kayura Yuka-san if I remember properly.

This was a silly, but fun panel. Everyone took photos of them and they took photos of the crowd. The staff members were surprised at the fact that majority of the crowd preferred girls with a modest bust because they would think that Americans love girls with a big bust. (In many cases, that’s true, but not here.) Oh and I managed to win a sketch from Tanihara-san, which made my day. ^_^

Monday

I went to Momoi-san’s concert. Of course, I will never understand why there’s that Premire Ticket thing. It’s a waste of time really. Anyway, the concert was fun and I got rave sticks. Hee hee! She sang a whole bunch of songs like “Ai no Medicine” (the “Komugi-chan” opening song) and she and Manzo-san were really excited to see a lot of people at the concert. (Of course, it wasn’t really a lot to me.)

Well, after Momoi-san gave her thanks and cried with joy as well as having a photo, I left a message in her fan book. I wrote in kana, but I rushed it because I still had to worry about the autograph session I won yesterday. I hate it when you’re on some sort of time budget.

So, I went to Circus’s booth and I got my autograph from Tanihara-san. The sketch is of Yume from “Da Capo II” by the way. I told her that writing my name in katakana is fine. Well, I got my name both in roumaji and katakana, which works out too. Ha ha ha! Initially, a Circus staff member’s autograph wasn’t at the top of my item list, but Circus somehow ended my run at AX on a high note.

I helped clean up the Doujin Online booth for a bit and this was the last time I would see Chupiler and his friends. Before, I got a figurine of Eri from “School Rumble” and some other items. I ended my run early as I heard various tunes like “Tank” from “Cowboy Bebop” while I rested. I found Jorge and after we found his friends, we headed back north.

Epilogue

After four days and over $500, this year’s AX wasn’t that bad, but calling it “terrific” would be pushing it. Like I said, Long Beach is not a very good city to hold an anime con. Yeah, it would have been better if it was held in Anaheim because that’s more of a family city. (Disneyland.) In Long Beach, you still have that grim aura. Not only that, you can end up going the wrong way when you walk or drive here.

It’s a shame I didn’t get to touch my Dreamcast. I would have wanted to play against someone in “Moero! Justice Gakuen”, but oh well. There’s that and I wanted to go to Arcade Infinity. I thought the game rooms were horrible in Fanime. AX had worse. Can a person at least get a game like “The King of Fighters 2002″ or “Pink Sweets”?! The latter wouldn’t matter anyway because I’d still be considered slow to play it.

I already knew that there’d be no fan subs at the con, which is why I didn’t bother going to check the viewing rooms. I did get a glimpse of some “Lucky Star” episode before the Circus panel. Ha ha ha! Can’t remember which one though.

In regards of the guests, I feel sorry for Momoi-san and the rest of the guests. I also feel sorry for the people who waited in line for the S.O.S. Dan autographs because I would have done the same and I know that the majority of you people left empty-handed, which is a darn shame. If only there was a way to clone myself.

Oh! Random notes. I went to the Borders store close by on Sunday and I told him that it feels weird for him to serve the enemy because I was wearing a Giants hat and obviously, you can’t wear a Giants hat if you’re in Long Beach. He does like the city of San Francisco though. By the way, I ate at least one Japanese food item everyday while I was down south. I am not going to bother mentioning the ugly stuff.

The ups of this year’s AX? Outside of the outside stuff like the karaoke session, I got to see old friends and I got to see new ones. I even got to have lunch with random people I’ve met, which is something no one would do at AX normally. I bought a whole bunch of items (mostly shirts) and I got an autograph from Circus. Oh and I met a guy with the fan name of “Hanase”! XD

The downs of this year’s AX? I mentioned them already. I didn’t get an autograph from Momoi-san, the reason why I came to AX in the first place. Food’s not cheap. It’s the walking and waiting con. The games were disgusting to put it lightly. Simply put, this was really disorganized.

At the highest, 2007’s AX gets a 7/10 and that’s me being nice. At the lowest, it gets a 3/10. Again, that’s me being nice. So, it gets a 5, which is not bad, but not that good either.

Oh. Next year’s AX will be in downtown Los Angeles. I haven’t been to Los Angeles in years, but while this means that there will be a bigger place to work with for the staff, bigger doesn’t mean better always. This is Los Angeles. I’m worried about the safety of cosplayers, especially those that are not 18 yet. It still has that dark aura and if you thought Long Beach’s is bad, this is worse.

What should be done? If it can’t be done in Anaheim, bring it to a city like Pasadena or Santa Ana. If a bigger city is required, bring it to San Diego. I’d rather travel for another hour plus and have that safe feeling than travel for only a few hours to be concerned about the safety of people not familiar with Los Angeles all the time.

Well, that’s my rant for AX2007. It took me a while to complete this. I am so not going to use a disposable camera if I ever go to a big event again. If you didn’t enjoy AX this year, I feel for you. If you did enjoy AX this year, more power to you. This event was too much of a mixed bag. I wish I could work with guests from now on, but I live up north. I guess it can’t be helped. –’

Photos are below. The reason why there aren’t many is that I was on a time budget pretty much. Also, they look horrible because I was using a cheap camera, which is what I will not do again. Hopefully.

Photos

Max Karaoke in Torrance.

“Azumanga” waiter and waitress gang.

“Guu’s” title character.

“Haruhi’s” title character in that bunny outfit.

Kyousuke of the “Justice Gakuen” series.

Maid in Long Beach.

Maid pair in Long Beach.

Nakoruru and Iori, two popular characters in the SNK Playmore world. (Yes, I know that this looks horrible, but it’s better like this than having them pose in the middle of the crossway.)

“Samurai Spirits’s” Shizumaru. (I’m probably one of the few people who actually knows who he’s cosplaying as.)

“School Rumble’s” Tenma.

Yuki, that mysterious girl of “Haruhi” and Haku of “Naruto”.

I am just about set for AX. Unfortunately, I will need to wear a mask because I have an irritated throat. Plus, I don’t want this mishap to get worse. I can speak still, but it places a force on the throat every now and then.

I will bring lots of stuff like my DC over and “Moero! Justice Gakuen”. People that never played the game, here’s your chance. Don’t play against me because I will kill you. =P

Okay! That’s that. I’m off! Mata ne!

Chances are that you were at Fanime the last few days. While you were busy with the con itself, I was in the downtown area to see what random insanity Chupiler would throw at me this time around. Ha ha ha!

I didn’t visit Chupiler and his crew until Saturday (because I was working). He chuckled for a bit when I said, “Ewww. Beikoku no tabemono”. Obviously, I don’t think anyone else understood what I said. The guy got to see a “Quiz Magic Academy” cosplayer. Of course, the two of us couldn’t remember the names of the guys. =P

He gave me some good gifts. I will not reveal what he gave me because you’ll end up surprised. To be honest, he wanted to get rid of the stuff actually and sell them off, but the gifts have a place now. So, I’ll just stop right there in regards of that.

Chupiler showed me his 360. I know it has potential, but the problem is that it is still an action console. Up to this point, if I had a choice, I’d own a Japanese 360 over the other two because not only does it have some games I’m looking for and it has a controller similar to the DC’s, it’s not expensive though.

I got killed “Senkou no Ronde”, but I got to see “Idol Master”. After a couple of days or so, it took me a while to figure out who is Lili’s seiyuu, seeing that she somehow sounded familar to me. It turns out that she is played by Kanda Akemi-san. (The only seiyuu I knew up to that point that’s in the game was Nonaka Ai-san.) Oh and I so want to play “Imas” now, even though I’ll mess up.

You can’t have a video game party without a Dreamcast, which is what I brought. Chupiler was rusty in his “Justice Gakuen” and it showed in “Moero! Justice Gakuen”. He just had to use that Kyousuke glitch though. Of course, he preferred the old character creating process, but oh well. Capcom couldn’t reuse it.

I finally managed to touch a GP system! I didn’t turn it on because they don’t have good battery life and I would have probably killed the batteries right away. I so want to play “Winter is”. I so need money for my “Help Bata-kun Get a GP” foundation.

Crossplaying: I would definitely have a hard time doing it. There. I talked about it. I don’t want to go more into this issue.

Sunday was weird (as if the crossplaying issue wasn’t enough). To start off, I went to Clover. I made one of his friends happy seeing that I bought yakisoba pan, and she was very excited. Besides that, I bought some okonomiyaki pan, melon pan (for Chupiler), croquette pan and ringo pan. I also went to Mitsuwa to get a bunch of treats and Ramune.

I brought my PS2 this time around. Chupiler and I played both “Twinkle Star Sprites” games. Why there is such heavy slowdown? I don’t know. Oh and yes, we all laughed when we heard that good old Neo-Geo sound. That sound’s never old. Good times indeed. I also saw some tactic game for the 360, but I forgot the name. I’m pretty sure the name’s in one of my “Arcadia” issues.

As for the silly parts, those kids were fighting over a bag of yogurt covered raisins. Now, I know that yogurt covered raisins are good, but are they really worth having a rumble over for? Not really. The tactic to grab the raisins was mean. No, scratch that. The tactic to grab the raisins was evil.

Want to know a reason to stop drinking alcohol? Here’s one. Try “You will so end up nauseating”. That’s what happened to another one of his friends and I’m typing this up for his sake. I will admit that I did have a shot once in a blue moon, but I stopped while I was ahead of myself. So, if you’re a drinker, stop while you’re ahead.

After that, I didn’t do much else. I cleaned up the room for a bit. Of course, I had trouble sleeping and I couldn’t sleep until I got home. Before that, I did manage to play “Mario Mahjong”. I always have trouble with mahjong in general, but Mario and his crew are always a good stepping stone towards anything pretty much. Of course, I will not mention the joke Chupiler made, unless you already know.

Monday was a bland day. I bought more treats at Seoul Market and surprisingly, what I bought was less than three dollars. Well, we would depart from there and that was that. I couldn’t stay long because I had to work.

The weekend was pretty um, wild. I wish I was better off not remembering certain parts of that weekend. I think I am more scarred than ever. I think Chupiler is laughing as I am typing this entry up. Never the less, there were definitely good times. I so need to find that “Battle Frontier” link.

Right now in Japan, it is the birthday of one of not only my favorite characters, but one of my best characters also in “Justice Gakuen”: Kyousuke. “Today is Hyou’s birthday.” You think that would be such an easy statement to say, but if you know your “Justice Gakuen”, you should know that Hyou died so young.

Now, if you excuse me, I must now go pay my respects to Hyou.

Right now in Japan is Hayashibara Megumi-san’s birthday. I believe she is now 20 years old. Ha ha ha! I kid. You know, it’s hard to believe that she is now 40 years old. I wonder how she’ll celebrate her birthday. The same goes for Kawasumi Ayako-san who is now 21, uh, I mean, 31.

What’s there for me to say about one of my all-time favorite seiyuu in Hayashibara Megumi-san? She influenced the second half of the 1980’s. She heavily influenced the 1990’s. Need I say more? Actually, both of these two still have something left in them.

What’s surprising is that Hayashibara-san’s not the only big person that’ll turn 40 later this year. In less than a couple of months, it’ll be Koyasu Takehito-san’s turn to be 40. For June, it’s Ueda Yuuji-san. At the end of August, Hiramatsu Akiko-san turns 40 also. Oh and towards the end of the year, Mitsuishi Kotono-san hits that time as well as Koshiro Yuuzou-san who contributed to “Pink Sweets’” OST if you’re wondering what is his latest work. Wow. So many people.

Since I brought up “Pink Sweets”, I have to mention that it has nearly been a year since it was released and yet, I still haven’t played it. I’m beyond mad to put it lightly. I am now forced to wait for a PS2 release because no arcade place here’s willing to accept it. I bet that somewhere in Manila, the game’s there. I don’t know. If there is a place that has the game in the area, I’m so going to be moving there soon.

Of course, I want the OST. (Details can be found here and here by the way.) I don’t know if there’s a special version of it, but I wouldn’t mind paying an extra $15 or so for a figurine of Kasumi or any of the other girls. Ho ho ho! Ahem!

Uh, the OST was released a few months back and besides your usual Cave people and Koshiro-san, people like Sasou Ayako-san and Hosoe Shinji-san, both of them turning 40 earlier this year, are here as well. So, if you like their works, you’ll definitely want to pick it up. On a side note, I think I invented a new term: “romantic techno”. I tell you, if NEC manages to make a 10th anniversary album of the “Sentimental” series and Koshiro-san works on a track, I’ve seen everything then.

So, yeah, “Pink Sweets” has occupied some of my time as of late. I’m waiting for my port Taito! Oh and don’t mess up!

I am going to visit a friend’s place soon. I am pretty sure he wants to test out my newly created characters from “Moero! Justice Gakuen”. Not the best job in the world in regards of my creations, but at least I have something. I’ll definitely need a bunch of favors for him. Of course, he’ll get something, seeing that his birthday’s coming up.

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!

Just wanted to say “Happy Birthday” to Natsu of “Justice Gakuen”, Nayu of “True Love Story” and Ken of “Street Fighter”. I did a stroll with Natsu in the final “JG” game and with Ken in “SFZ III”. I should listen to “Summer Days and Yet’s” soundtrack later today seeing that I don’t have a “TLS” game. Ha ha ha!

I don’t plan on doing anything special tomorrow on Valentine’s Day. To be honest, when I was younger, I hated Valentine’s Day. The reasons are that I had to create cards which I found to be silly and I can’t remember if this is true, but I believe that I nearly lost one of my old bags on a Valentine’s Day. Now these days, I just find it to be just another day. (Oh and thank goodness America does not have White Day.)

Tomorrow, I’ll most likely be working my way towards finishing the “Ai Yori Aoshi” anime series. I think that’s a good series to watch tomorrow. Of course, I’ll be finishing “Holmes” first because I actually am close to finishing that series unlike “Aiao”. “Aiao” has always been a series that chewed me up because I would always put the series on hold. Not only that, I didn’t finish the second season.

Oh well.

Here’s some task I should do more: having fun and then talking about it. Last month, I finally finished getting all of the omake ending images in “Moero! Justice Gakuen” and I felt so happy doing so. I remember my youngest brother said “Finally!” and some other words because he knew how much I slacked off in getting those endings.

Now, I’m making a character and it is great, but it’s a hard process because of the fact that you don’t get so many turns. 40 turns seems a lot until you realize that you have to land on move blocks and to get super moves, you need to fill out the bingo card a certain way. It’s much harder for my case because I actually want to make sure the character starts with 3 bars and only 3 bars because I don’t want my characters to feel totally superior to the cast.

If you haven’t done so, play “Moero! Justice Gakuen” because it really is that fun. I know that it does not have Sakura in the game, but the new characters make up for it. It’s not better than the other two games, but it still is fun and I consider it one of my all-time favorite games. Not only that, “Justice Gakuen” will be 10 years old later this year, which is something. If Capcom brings out a “Justice Gakuen” for the PS2 later this year, I’m getting it.

I don’t know why, but I get a lot of fun in reading other people’s blogs. If anything, I’ve learned that I should put up more silly stuff such as that Impz yonkoma thing. Ha ha ha! That Anime Blog should have the link seeing that I forgot where the archives are at. If all of my entries are flat out serious, then it feels like I am running a cemetary or something.

Try to visit The Bonkurasu Brigade which I have linked to just recently. The site has potential. I have made a comment or two there already. It makes me feel good that Umehiko told me that messy rooms have their charm too. Hee hee!

Oh. I forgot to mention that of all of the silly conversations I had recently, the one that has the most impact to me was the one where I talked with NeoRyu back on Wednesday. Here’s the conversation.

Shin Bata kun (5:33:42 PM): You do realize that you’re still on punishment, right? XD

SF NeoRyu (5:34:06 PM): yeah lol

Shin Bata kun (5:36:02 PM): So, update already!

SF NeoRyu (5:36:17 PM): never lol

Shin Bata kun (5:36:45 PM): You really must love being deprived on kawaii moe, huh?

SF NeoRyu (5:37:01 PM): lol yes

Shin Bata kun (5:37:05 PM): XD

Shin Bata kun (5:38:42 PM): From now on, your new moe are those “Hokuto no Ken” characters. XD

SF NeoRyu (5:42:37 PM): lol no fair

Yes, he still has not updated that much. I tell you. It’s hard to find good help these days. Torturing him with Kenshirou pictures is not enough. XD

Okay! I’m going to think about what I want to buy now. Try to enjoy the rest of Mary’s birthday. Oh and uh, Takuma’s too. =P

I’m beat. I can barely type properly. I can barely think properly while I’m at it.

Uh, I just want to say an early “Happy New Year”. I don’t plan on typing another entry until the time of Amano Yuri-san’s birthday. Tomorrow, I plan on cleaning up and on New Year’s Day, the day after tomorrow, and Tanaka Rie-san’s birthday, I’m working. Yes, it’s a crime that I’m working on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I’m doing a bunch of errands. So, Thursday, it is.

Oh. There are those awards. I’ll mention them now.

Best anime: “Haruhi”.

Most surprising anime: “Zero no Tsukaima”.

Best game: “Megamari”.

Most surprising game: “Pink Sweets”.

Individual of the year: Hirano Aya.

Company of the year: Kyoto Animation.

2006’s the year of “Haruhi”. I mean, Hirano-chan’s my person of the year! Need I say more?

Okay. I’m really tired. I’m off.

12月31日のノート:誕生日おめでとうございます伐。あなたも舞。お、明けましておめでとうございます日本。 ^_^