Adventures at ACen, Part 2

Last weekend Aaron, myself and five of our friends made the yearly pilgrimage to Anime Central (ACen), an anime convention in Rosemont, Illinois. 

Saturday:

Saturday began much like Friday, with new costumes to perfect in front of the room's giant mirror. Also just like Friday we started the day in the merchant room, a place we spent a rather large amount of our time, despite the empty nature of our wallets. This was not a fruitless trip, however. I managed to get my corset tightened by a gruff but hilarious pro and Aaron discovered a pack of his own kind.

Merchants all around let out a simultaneous tinkle

But to our group Saturday can mean only one thing: Drunken Mech battles.

A company called Virtual World provides the playground for every Gundam fan out there in the form of six giant robot cockpit pods. Inside there's all the controls you need to control your very own murderbot, which you get to pick from the dozens of choices available in one of the four size categories: Light, medium, heavy and assault classes.

So we all got good and liquored up. When we finally made our way to the mech room it was already about 10 or 11 pm, with another hour to wait our turn. I naturally picked the Arctic Wolf mech, because damn that's an awesome name, then I sat down on the floor and waited. And waited. Have you ever waited for something while drunk? It's torture. So I got bored and asked for a piece of paper.

Don't drink and draw, kids, mkay?

Sadly my illusions of victory were just that, illusions. I got last place.

Sunday:

It almost looks good enough to eat. Almost.

Alas the con cannot last forever, and it was now time to pack up the room and head for home. We threw our belongings and freshly acquired swag into the van and hit the convention center one last time. Aaron and I squeezed in one last panel (on self publishing), laughed at the poor suckers in the Full Metal Alchemist line (which was so big it had to be broken up into like eight other lines just to be managed), then met back up with our friends. We finished our weekend with a group selfie (minus Mat and John) taken by a horse.

Back at the van we discovered someone had graciously gifted us with an entire submarine sandwich, deposited on the wall directly in front of our van. Sadly we had already planned on having lunch at Wendy's, so we left the sandwich for a hungry pigeon, or perhaps a less discerning cosplayer who may have eaten nothing but ramen and pocky for three days.

Halfway to Wendy's we discovered part of the sandwich had decided to hitch a ride, with a single tomato elegantly draped upon Aaron's side mirror.

That tomato stayed there the whole way home.

Adventures at ACen, Part 1

Ah Anime Central... That marvelous time of year when the gang and I all cram ourselves into a tiny hotel room for the purpose of dressing like morons and partying for three days straight.

Man it sure looked nice... For about five minutes

Anime Central, or ACen, is a rather large (more like friggin' humongous) anime convention held every year in Rosemont, Illinois, a mere hop, skip and a jump (plus four hours, give or take) from home. 'Tis a tradition we have upheld for many years now, with each new year bringing new cosplays and new shenanigans.

Like last year we chose to stay the the Aloft Hotel, a place that, while nice and quiet for a convention hotel, was also about a mile walk from the convention center. All the better to combat the all junk-food diet during conventions, I guess.

Unlike last year it was unnaturally cold outside. It's May, mother nature, no need for friggin' snow conditions. Thankfully Aaron and I chose somewhat warm cosplays.

Somewhat.

Day one we decided to be characters from the anime Kenichi: World's Mightiest Disciple, with me dressing as Kisara Nanjo (or Valkyrie) and Aaron rocking it as Ukita Kozo the Thrower. Saturday we glammed it up with a corset and layered skirts for me and a suit for Aaron as he cosplayed Wolf, his favorite of the four Payday guys.

Thursday:

Naturally we start our adventure with a last minute panic to get everything ready and packed, with me taking quick breaks in order to finish the mask for Aaron's Payday cosplay, because of course it wasn't finished. We hop into the van a mere two hours after our intended take off time, making multiple stops along the way to grab all the last minute things we forgot to grab before hand.

We managed to get to the hotel at an uncharacteristically decent time this year, rolling into the lobby around 4 or 5 pm. Of course such a  flawless execution cannot go unsullied, as one of our number realized at the hotel that he had forgotten all of his bags, including the badge needed for entry to the convention, at home. We spent the remainder of Thursday evening cramming seven people's stuff into a two person hotel room and play-testing our game Employee of the Month while waiting on our forgetful friend.

Friday:

Because Tetris

We start the day by cramming ourselves into our tiny bathroom area to get ready. With five cosplayers all jockeying for a spot by the sink, I wandered, mostly dressed (in costume, of course), toward the lobby bathrooms, picking up a follower in the process. A woman wearing a tube top and a scraggly black boa tailed me awkwardly into the bathroom, where after a long pause told me she loved Valkyrie and asked if she could hug me.

With Aaron and I costumed up we hit the con. We spent the day taking in the sights, for better or for worse, and perusing the merchant room. When drooling over what couldn't be got boring we hit the game room, a space consisting of a couple dozen gigantic old tube TV's and home game consoles like the NES and PlayStation. Aaron thoroughly whooped myself and our friend Ares at Tetris before the gang moved over to a couple quick rounds of Mortal Combat 2, where I had mild success with my frantic button-mashing strategy.

Toward the end of the afternoon we returned to the hotel for a rough game of Pick the Pizza Place, after which Aaron and I hit up a two hour improv workshop. After barely getting in the door (place was packed) Aaron took a ticket to participate while I took a seat to watch.

The workshop consisted of four 'team leaders' all wearing different Pokemon shirts, an Ash Ketchum, and a nurse Joy. You might think this means there was a theme. It didn't. I still have no idea where Pokemon factored into this.

After 30-45 minutes of watching the 40 or so participants circle the room walking like ogres and squeaking like mice they broke off into four groups, Aaron falling in with the Pikachu's. 15 more minutes were dedicated to either singing or passing back and forth an unwanted imaginary platter of spaghetti in Italian accents of varying levels of offensiveness.

Finally there were four short improve shows, each put on by one of the groups, during which any of the group's members could jump in at any time and the plot changed erratically. Now, I won't say they were bad. I certainly couldn't have done half as well. What I will say is it was with a warm wave of relief when the final group concluded their performance. But hey, we learned a few things for LARPing and D&D AND Aaron won a Pokemon movie DvD.

Added bonus: We got to watch a guy get arrested on the way back to the hotel room.

This con's just getting started, folks. Check back tomorrow for the good stuff in part 2!!!

*Blows the dust off the the old blog*

Hello hello!

The past week or *mumbles incoherently* have been a bit too crazy for game playing, regrettably, as I have been focusing on the craftier side of my life. This unfortunately cuts into my time.

Gaming time, that is.

I have taken a few *cough* hours *cough* to check out the new updates to the Steam game Terraria, which I suggest EVERYONE play, and today starts the Halloweening festivities in Guild Wars 2, so more Mad King shenanigans!

Swing by tomorrow, cause I'm back with Super Ghouls and Ghosts!

Anime Challenge: THE SIXTEENTH DAY:

The show with the best animation

Animes in general have been getting more and more...well, gorgeous recently. Better art, smoother animations, fancier effects, the whole shebang and more.

A few that stand out specifically are The Devil is a Part Timer and Sword Art Online (both of which you should go check out, like, right meow), but decisively I'd have to choose Attack on Titan for no other reason than watching people zoom around on 3D maneuvering devices. I get a jab of adrenalin and motion sickness just watching these guys spin like overzealous tops mid-air at roughly a billion miles an hour, with nary a case of whiplash in sight.

What show has the best animation to you?

Super Ghouls and Galled / Day 15

For the month of Scaretober Dark Souls is being usurped for my Monday Madness rage needs. Replacing it is Super Ghouls and Ghosts, for the Super Nintendo.

Now, when Aaron told me this was the Dark Souls of the retro world, I thought he was merely exaggerating. An attempt at cleverness, if you will. But hooooooooooooooooooooooly cow omg he's right omg he's riiiiiiiiiight!

While dying isn't so much a part of the game play as it is in Dark Souls, you certainly do alot of it. More even, I'd say. Even on the 'beginner' difficulty setting I die faster than a snowflake in Mount Doom. Nine lives wasn't enough to so much as reach the checkpoint in the first level, let alone beat it, and this is even after I watched Aaron play through it. I knew what was coming, and still I failed. Hard. Right on my face.

crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap

The game begins as any medieval story involving a knight should: In a castle with a princess in his arms. But of course our brave knight wouldn't get his chance at second base, for a flying demon...thing...hopped through the window and filled his damsel-stealing quota for the month. With nary a cold shower in sight, our brave knight sets off on his quest to save his fair maiden.

Level one: A graveyard, of course, but a graveyard that's either built directly on a fault line or suffering from a nasty case of the giant moles. The ground raises as you run and hop your way through hellhounds and zombies, one hit from which will reduce you from a glorious warrior in shining steel to some guy in his underwear, and a second of which kills you dead.

A game over under my belt in under ten minutes. A new record, even for me.

This will be a loooooooong month.

Anime Challenge: THE FIFTEENTH DAY:

My favorite animal companion

(Most) animals are absolutely adorable by their nature, albeit sometimes quite scary. Anime animals crank that cuteness up to eleven. Ein is an example of that cuteness in action.

Ein (or Einstein, because of course it is) is the super intelligent corgi companion in Cowboy Bebop. Why?

Because like the queen of England, I have an obsession with corgis. They're the big dog in the iddy biddy doggie body. And they're awesome.

So how about you? Which animal costar would you rather scratch behind the ears?

Slendy and Friends / Day 14

Slender Man is the biggest douche I have ever encountered. Well...Maybe not the biggest... That's a title that changes hands about once a week. He's certainly the skinniest.

Seriously, every time I start to make ANY progress, he tails me long enough to get his rocks off, then grabs me, whips me around, and game over.

The good news is I've realized the game isn't random, at least not entirely and not in the way I thought. The start area is always the same, and I'm getting a better feel for the landscape, but the page locations do seem random.

Yup, gonna count that one as a loss

With this astonishing revelation I was able to up my personal best to four whole pages!!! Yay me!!! But Slendy wasn't having me steal the fanfic or poetry or whatever he keeps hidden all over the woods. *REEEEEEEEEEE*PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSH* GOD DAMN IT YES YOU CAUGHT ME!! Maybe you can be a bit QUIETER about it! *Clutches chest and exhales slowly*

Contrary to my previous thoughts, the game is actually a little scarier with the lights on, and with friends on Skype. The lights make it harder to see once the flashlight starts to go, and the odd sounds made over the speakers at random times caused as many jumps as Slendy himself.

Has anyone else played Slender: The Eight Pages? How many could you get?

Anime Challenge: THE FOURTEENTH DAY:

What anime never gets old

I am a person who does not like new things. It's part of the reason I started this blog, to force myself to play something other than Skyrim or Legend of Zelda. The same goes for movies and TV shows. I will happily watch the same movie again and again and again, hissing at the mere mention of an unknown title, so I guess you can say there are ALOT of shows, anime and otherwise, I can watch over and over and over.

But the anime I can (and have) watch a million billion times is Cromartie High School. 

Cromartie follows Kamiyama: a normal, well behaved teenager who happens to attend a school for delinquents. Among his classmate are a robot, a gorilla, Freddy Mercury, and an adult plane jacker posing as a teenage boy. 

The show doesn't make a lick of sense...Which makes it one of the most awesome things...Well, ever. 

Fire up your streaming provider of choice, what anime can you watch for the rest of forever?

SCARETOBER!!!!!!! / Day 13

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG IT'S OCTOBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!!!!!!!

Know what that means, right? CANDY! Also PUMPKIN! MORE CANDY!

Also scares. October is basically a 30 day Halloween's eve, and Halloween means scares. Lots of scares.

So for this month I'll be playing horror games, or games with a Halloween theme. As a result, many of my posts may not get put up until pretty late, since horror games are best played in the dark, eerie loneliness of the night.

For my first night of terror I'm going with good old Slenderman. I've never played it before, or any other horror game, really, so I'll be sure to give a play by play of exactly how badly I piss myself. Yay!

In the mean time I'm hard at work with other artistic endeavors, namely that of preparing to open my very own Etsy store.

Wish me luck!!!

Anime Challenge: THE THIRTEENTH DAY:

What character am I most like

Ooooo this one's kind of a doozy.....After all, most anime characters, even the side characters, are generally more interesting than I am...

I think I'll have to go with Chi-Chi, from Dragonball Z. Like Chi-Chi, I can be a bit...Well, a bit of a control freak. I also happen to have a significant other with their head in the clouds.

Who's your double in the anime universe? 

Dome of Doom Comic / Day 12

Super awesome happy fun times in Wayfairer Foothills. Idiot Norn....

Anime Challenge: THE TWELFTH DAY:

Saddest Anime Scene

(spoilers *probably*)

Some animes make it a point to be depressing sometimes. Maybe it's because the medium (animation) makes doing so easier than say, live action, or maybe it's because Japan's just kind of evil like that.

For most depressing I'll have to go with Attack on Titan. No real scene, just...God the whole show up til now. Just EVERYBODY dies. Horribly, with most if not all the graphic horror on full display.

The worst of it is they take the time to actually build these characters. You just get to know someone, and BAM dead. Oh that character has funny quirks! Surely he's- No, he's dead now.

Even better is how they portray the aftermath of these killings, going to great lengths to show pure, raw emotion. It's awful. And amazing.

Whip out those tissues, what's your saddest anime moment?

I Can Has Syringe? / Day Eleven

Hope Hospital just got a little bit safer. All thanks to this cat *points both thumbs at own chest*.

Doctor Malpractice...I mean Stiles, finally got the intern smacked back out of him via his new assistant Angela Thompson, the lucky nurse taking over for Dr. Stile's previous babysitter nurse Fulton.

'Mommy' now out of the picture and 'daddy' (the head surgeon) out of town, 'lil Derek decides hes a real doctor now, and just in time for an operation!

Despite nurse Thompson's frequent misgivings about the condition of the patient, Dr. Stiles carries on full boar. After all, he's got a super awesome symposium to go to, with all sorts of important people he just cannot keep waiting in the next town! Ignoring the patient's paperwork, irregular blood results, and every other red alarm going off Stiles sews the chump up and skips off to the big city.

*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*kicks the machine*beep-beep-beep-beep-*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*

As Derek laments his inability to hit the town kindergarten style due to work the next morning, his phone rings. The patient he left half dead on the operating table was now 3/4 dead, and sprinting toward the light. The guy lives, but Derek's lab-coat covered ass is in deep trouble, with Angela informing 'daddy' that Doctor Stiles was incompetent, careless, hopeless, and frankly has no business being a doctor!

His heart torn raggedly in twain, Derek takes a rainy walk down the boardwalk of depression and self doubt...Until a car accident snaps him back to reality.

He rushed back to the hospital to find the patients already in the ER and nurse Thompson in the fetal position, rolling back and forth in a pool of her own tears. She couldn't revive the guy *hyperventilate* but at this rate he's gonna diiiiiiie! But Dr. Derek Stiles is here to saaaaave teh daaaaaaaaaaay, and save it he surprisingly does thanks to what I can only assume are magic time control powers that are beginning to manifest within him.

With the doctor's confidence and resolve renewed and the time space continuum at his disposal (probably) the game can really begin. Chapter two, here I am!

Anime Challenge: THE ELEVENTH DAY:

My favorite mecha anime

I've never really seen the allure of mecha style animes....GUNDAM, Big O, etc. Yes giant robots are cool and all, but it never really did anything for me...except for one.

Zoids. Zoids: New Century, to be exact, following Bit Cloud and his Liger Zero mech. The show follows tournaments based around mechs of all shapes and sizes, from bulls to wolves to pterodactyls, as opposed to the warring of humanoid mechs in other animes.

Zoids was one of the Toonami shows back in the day that cemented my love of anime, and thus will always hold a special place in my heart (specifically the place just above the left ventricle).

Which was your favorite mecha anime?

That's DOCTOR Geeky Cat to you/ Day 10

You don't let a cat perform surgery. You also don't let a cat control a spacey idiot while he performs surgery. Seriously. Don't. People die. 

Today I played a little Nintendo DS title called Trauma Center: UNDER THE KNIFE, which follows the medical malpractice suit-in-the-making of Dr. (giggle) Derek Stiles. A new surgeon fresh from his internship, Derek is a surgeon with something to prove, man, and so far hes managed to prove that he really shouldn't have lives placed in his hands... Or anything sharp, for that matter. 

*beep*beep*BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP* Yup, looks like I'll need that fourth needle after all...*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*

Seriously, this guy is such a hardcore slacker the head nurse considered postponing a move with her husband so she can minimize casualties left in his wake. 

So far The game has been largely characterized by brutally precise gameplay, verbally abusive characters, and forgettable anime-esque sprites. But it's a fun game. Lets see how many lawsuits I can dodge before my body count gets me kicked from the hospital!

Anime Challenge: THE TENTH DAY:

My favorite fighter anime

An argument can be made that most Shonen style animes are 'fighter' types, at least in spirit. I do love me some cartoonishly muscular dudes beating each other over the head with cars and magic beams of death, but I wouldn't call them 'fighter' animes, at least most of them. 

As for favorites, Hajime No Ippo tops my list. With the manga running in the hundreds of chapters (been going since the late 1980's) and the anime gearing up for a new season soon, Hajime No Ippo follows the boxing career of Ippo Makunouchi, a boy who overcame his shyness and bullying once a boxing school discovered he had a helluva right hook. 

The show (and manga) do an amazing job of making the fights just as interesting and, shall I say painful to watch as anything from Dragon Ball Z, without a single super power in sight. 

So how do you like your anime ass kickings? Super-natural or realistic? Whats your favorite fighter anime? 

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaay Nine!

Anime Challenge: THE NINTH DAY:

My favorite anime villain

*spoilers y'all*

I do love me some classic bad guys. The dudes who are dripping with villainous intentions. The guys who are evil for the sake of being evil. 

Their simplicity is what makes me love them. Burned down an orphanage? 'Cause I'm evil. Stole candy from a baby? 'Cause I'm evil. Punched a puppy in the face? 'Cause I'm FREAKING EVIL *shrug*.  It's the stark contrast between good and bad, black and white, that I love. No gray area here, just a spike moat for their lazer sharks. 

But, for my favorite of the baddies, I like someone a bit more...subtle. Akihiko Kayaba, aka Heathcliff from the first story arc of Sword Art Online. Kayaba creates a virtual reality helmet, builds a massive virtual world, sticks a bunch of people in it, and kills them if they try to leave. Or i they die in game. Or if some outside source completely outside the player's control damages or deprives the helmet of power for longer than its battery can survive. 

Adding insult to injury is his placing himself as a prominent figure among the players, simply to play out his story line of betrayal once the players reach level 100 (the beating of which would free everyone still trapped), wherein he would reveal himself to be the final boss. 

But in the end he is discovered, long before his, shall we say scheduled appearance, and an answer is demanded of him: For what reason has he jeopardized, even stolen, the lives of thousands? For what cause was so great that he robbed people of their very lives, both literally and figuratively?

Hell if he remembers. 

Seriously. He doesn't remember. Two years into his mad plan for (virtual) world domination, and he has already forgotten. Just...*poof*.

So, maybe you have a more concrete answer: Who is your favorite villain? 

Holy Comic it's a Crap! And Day Eight

Balls indeed, Shatterer. Balls indeed. 

Anime Challenge: THE EIGHTH DAY:

My favorite anime character

It could be so easy to answer this question: pick an anime at random and name the biggest bad-ass of the bunch, or be like some otaku and simply pick the main character *cough* LAZY *cough*.

As I said, easy. Especially since I do like me some bad-asses. But for this one, I'll have to go with high school delinquent Hayashida from Cromartie High School. Yes hes a 'bad-ass', but note the quotation marks. Despite being stuck in a high school for delinquents you never actually see Hayashida do anything...bad. Hell he's the small glimmer of sanity for the main character, as it seems the rest of the students checked out mentally long, long ago.

Also, I am mesmerized by his mohawk, slipping into a trance whenever I see it wave to and fro...to and fro....to and.....

....What? Sorry, I was....Never mind. Who's your favorite anime character?

Ready...Steady....FIRE!!!!!! Also, day seven.

Tell my PC....I love him.....

Go on. Do it. Pull the trigger. We both know I deserve it...SPRITZ ME ALREADY!!!

Yes yes yes yes I've been absent for *mumbles incoherently* days and shame on me for it. But hey! I'm back!

Wooo-hooo! Party Time!!! *spritz spritz* GAH my eye!!!

So whats new...Well lately I've been doing less playing games and more watching games being played...You see, Grand Theft Auto V hit shelves last week, thus my (*cough* his) Playstation 3 has been taken hostage by Aaron, and while I don't have a whole lot of interest in playing the game myself, I am utterly fascinated by watching it.

For starters it is a gorgeous game. I firmly believe graphics don't make the game, but GTA V's graphics are worth noting...I could watch its water animations for hours...

I am also quite impressed with the depth of the game. Not just in story, which is amazing, but in the world itself. The map is huge and entirely unique throughout. Hell one of my favorite moments was when Aaron, as Trevor, just so happened to be ridding a mountain bike on the outskirts of town when he happened upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong. Just bodies everywhere, with a suitcase filled with $25,000 nearby. As with Skyrim, I loves me some living world. Also unexpected paydays.

Last week also brought us Arena Net's update to the world bosses of Guild Wars 2, completely restating and reworking the world boss encounters, most notably those of the dragons like Tequatl the Sunless.

Yup, I reckon this ones 'bout ready to pick....Marshmallow, go
get my spade out the shed.

Oh Tequatl...You festering, rotting card you... What once was a mere walk in a swampy park is now an exercise in futility. Most servers haven't felled him yet, and the ones that have took a few days. The battle I took part in chipped off less than 25% of his health within the 15 minutes (a time limit now!) allotted for the fight, despite the battle going better than the one before it.

It's like seeing the dust bowl in game form. What once were proud boss farmers reaping plentiful harvests are now but shadows tilling the unforgiving fields, too old and stubborn to leave the lands of their birth for greener pastures.

Anime Challenge: THE SEVENTH DAY:

My anime crush

(Yes I know I should be well past day seven...But I'll go ahead and pick 'er up here) 

Roy Mustang. all day. I don't give a damn about my "no more Fullmetal Alchemist guys for realz!" thing. Roy wins. Hands down. Hawkeye be damned. 

Who is your anime crush?

The Shame of Geeky Cat and Day Six

I... I can't do it... I can't... Call me a quitter all you like, but I'm done. Finished. I cannot continue playing this game.

Round and round we go...Where we'll stop, nobody knows! 

Its not just that I think Jet Force Gemini is bad, as a matter of fact I didn't want it to be bad. I read great things online, and the sheer number of save files Aaron created over the years all testified to it being quite a good game. The (main) problem is it can't make me care. I don't care. Not even a little. About any of it. Not the characters, not the game play, nothing.

The combat isn't fun, primarily due to abysmal aiming capabilities. It can be awkward and dizzying if there are too many enemies, doubly so if those enemies are flying, as in the case today. Even if I stop running in circles like an idiot and stand still to aim properly, the only thing to change is that the combat goes from vertigo inducing to enemies playing the 'hey look at the people-shaped pinata just standing there for us to eviscerate!' game.

But, you see, that running around in circles is kinda necessary sometimes, as the camera is shit.

The story is the gaming equivalent of using a tv as a baby sitter. Sure its there, but its more background noise than substance and it sure as hell won't do anything to stop me putting a fork in the light socket.

...I'm sick of running 'round, just let me kill you already!

I mentioned before I didn't feel the game aged well, a statement I'm sure leads most people to believe I'm a spoiled gamer who can't handle a little Old School. But that's entirely untrue. I played the Nintendo 64 'back in the day', and I rather liked it. Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are two of my all time favorite games regardless of system, and I can remember many other games I played and enjoyed over the years.

Oh buuuuuuuuuuuunneeeeeeeehs

So I'm done, you see. A game is to have fun with, and I am not having anything remotely resembling fun. 

But until I decide a new game to take it's place I think I'll blow off a little steam with some Guild Wars 2. Arena Net has recently (like today recently) revamped the world bosses like the Shatterer and Tequatl the Sunless, and while I'd like to go check them out immediately I don't think my poor PC has it in her. Put that many other players within 50 feet of each other while unicorns and flowers explode all over a giant dragon and my frame rate slows to the speed of tectonic plates. Oh well, I can find plenty of other ways to faff about. 

Speaking of faffing about, it's Thirty Day Anime Challenge time!!!

The Thirty Day Anime Challenge: THE SIXTH DAY

What anime I would like to see but haven't

*If I spoil anything it's pure talent*

Now this one's rough simply because the majority of my 'would like to see' urges come from surfing Hulu, Crunchy Roll and Netflix, generally a "meh, that looks cool *click*" kinda thing. If I want to watch something, I do. One of the joys of adulthood, I guess. Some animes, like One Piece and Case Closed (Detective Conan), are ones I'd like to finish, but seeing as I've already started them I don't feel they qualify. 

Hell just to complete this post I'm surfing Hulu for inspiration. Lets see here...No, no, no, maybe, no...Why so many high school and harem animes? Ugh.

Oh! I know! Blue Gender! Years ago I saw it advertised for a few weeks leading up to its premier on Cartoon Network, but for whatever reason I never actually watched any of it. I think it's about some guy who gets cryogenically frozen, only to thaw and find the world overthrown by bugs. Or something. It looked cool. 

Whelp looks like I know what I'm doing tomorrow, how about you? What anime would you like to see?

Comic and a Question

Game physics are funny.

Dark Souls has done a magnificent job of adding the illusion of weight behind weapon swings and enemy attacks. However it appears the only thing with any mass in this game is the souls and weapons themselves, for once an enemy is dead it immediately turns into a rag doll made of weightless rubber. Sticky rubber. Made of deeeeeeeeeeead bodies.

The Thirty Day Anime Challenge: THE FIFTH DAY

The Anime I Am Most Ashamed to Have Liked

*spoilers, not so much*

I can't say I've ever been ashamed of anything I've watched to fruition. I generally play it safe with my animes, preferring the shonen variety over some of the other genres. While I'm not ashamed of anything I've liked, I can list a few shows I'm ashamed to say I watched far more of than I should have, for one reason or another.

One such abomination is Powerpuff Girls Z, a bizarre alternate reality of the Powerpuff Girls show I grew up with, Japanimationized.

The art style is similar to a modernized Astroboy. Professor X didn't create the girls, rather his son decided 'whats wrong with committing a few crimes against humanity' and dumps a bunch of chemicals into the atmosphere, resulting in three random (and unrelated) girls gaining super powers instead of cancer. I think I stuck with this mutated freak of a show for about two episodes when I should have punched out the screen 10 seconds in.

The other show I spent a bit more time on, although many of the episodes I watched weren't in order. Not that it mattered, as the things I DID see were enough to make me question whether a truly just and loving God exists. Because if there was such a being, this pile of wtf would never have existed.

I shall not name this monster aloud, for to utter it's name is to risk it's reappearance, a fate my heart cannot bear. Let's just say this beast of a show stomped my childhood into the ground like an Ōzaru stomps a baby bunny.

What anime are you most ashamed of?

Day Four and a Promise

The Thirty Day Anime Challenge: THE FOURH DAY

My Favorite Female Character

*spoilers DUH*

As I mentioned yesterday, I have a tendency to dislike female characters on the whole. They are generally...well, girly. With stupid girl problems like boys and bullshit. And I don't like that. I like my protagonists of the ass-kicking variety. 

Ok, pinky-promise I'll try harder to stay away from Fullmetal Alchemist from now on, but you cannot go wrong with Riza Hawkeye and Olivier Armstrong, both from Fullmetal. Both are ass-kickers of the highest degree. Period. While they have the occasional emotional lapse, a moment of weakness, if you will, it is my personal theory that it is merely their ploy to convince us mere mortals that they too are totally human, and not of a race of super-powered mutant badasses. 

 I have plans to cosplay as Armstrong int he future, and have been to a panel featuring Colleen Clinkenbeard, Hawkeye's voice actress. 'Twas awesome.

I do have one more addition to my list: Mikasa Ackerman from Attack on Titan. Because squeezing that much badass fury into a tiny human form is nothing less than gloriously awesome. Also probably magic. 

Who is your Favorite Female Character? 

Check out tomorrow, for a comic awaits!!!!!!!

Day the Third

The Thirty Day Anime Challenge: THE THIRD DAY

My Favorite Male Character

*spoilers DUH*

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhn why you get so hard 30 Day Challenge? You've been so easy so faaaaaaaaaar.

Oh damn where to start...It doesn't help that I tend to only like male characters...Women in anime are far too quick to either whip out the panty-butt-shot scene or fall victim to some bullshit kidnapping scheme that never should have worked in the first place (you just single-handedly felled a giant beast of legend! How did that bitch catch you?! Just cut his bitch head off and be done with it!!!), after which time she is resigned to a fate of sighing morosly while wearing clothing made entirely of fan service (I'm looking at you, Asuna).

Favorite male character...Well always I have to at least mention Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist (dreamy sigh), but I'll try to get away from FMA for a while.

Oh, I know, Yoichi Hiruma, from the football anime Eyeshield 21.

I love everything about this guy.  His charactr design is brilliant, sporting pointed teeth and ears among normal humans in a non sci-fi or fantasy setting. Hiruma starts the show as a sort of psudo villain, with an evil reputation within his high school and a penchant for firing off high caliber assult rifles on campus. He blackmails people into doing his bidding and isnt above straight up kidnapping. But as the story goes on you learn that while he is absolutely nuts, hes dedicated and loyal, especially to his team.

He does all this while remaining absolutely hilarious.

Who is your favorite male character?

UPDATE:

Yesterday I said my favorite anime right now was Fullmetal Alchemist.  In the short time since that post I have caught up on the anime Attack on Titan and OMG GO WATCH IT IT IS TEH 'MAZING!!!!!!!

Oinking Ants/ Day two

I will be strong...I can't quit out of two games in a row...I-will-be-strong...

The opening cinematic to Jet Force Gemini made me dizzy. No, really. Between the oddly close camera, it's wildly erratic and quick movements, and the already blurry graphics, my head started spinning and it spun fast.

Oink oink SHREIEEEEEK!?

The heroes, near as I can tell, are two twits and a dog. In a space ship. One of the twits has terrible blue hair. The other one might. Not sure, he's wearing a helmet. The enemies, near as I can tell, are giant blue ants. They squeal like piggies when you shoot them. It's hilarious

From what I can see it won't be a bad game, just severely dated. I received zero information in the beginning (something that could be rectified had I had the manual that came with the game, an assumption I'm sure the creator's had in mind). Instead a random voice steals the camera for a while, explaining things I hadn't seen yet, but not what I had already seen. It looks like it'll be awesome after a while, I just hope my assumption is correct.

I hope to make this a swift play through.

Anime Challenge: THE SECOND DAY:

My favorite anime so far

*spoilers DUH*

This answer is a bit trickier, in that it requires an explanation.

My favorite anime of all time is a combination of the original Fullmetal Alchemist and Brotherhood.

The original series was created before the manga from which is was based had finished, leaving the show's writers to fill in the story themselves (something the author, Hiromu Arakawa, specifically requested), while Brotherhood follows the (now completed) manga. Both series start off the same, breaking off from each other into radically different paths after the death of Maes Hughes.

Now what do I mean by combination? I loved the overall much darker feel in the first show. Watching Roy Mustang's descent into despair after the death of his closest friend was incredibly powerful. I also loved the Homunculi's origin in the original, although only parts of it (keep that they're made from failed human transmutation, nix the part about Trisha being Sloth, because what sense did that make?). I also really liked the identity of Envy and his final showdown with Edward, and the tie-ins with war torn Germany.

From Brotherhood I would take Von Hohenheim and everything included in this incarnation's backstory. Original Hohenheim was kinda...awful. Also, anything coming out of Fort Briggs (General Armstrong wooooooo!). And finally, watching Mustang utterly obliterate Lust was just...wow.

Whats your favorite anime?

The Thirty Day Animeeeeeeeeeeee Challenge!!!

Seems all the cool kids these days are getting into this 'thirty day anime challenge' thing. I wanna be a cool kid too. TELL ME I'M COOL!

So for the next 30 days I'll be giving you guys a daily bonus in the form of my all time favorite anime stuffs! 

*WARNING* Spoilers WILL happen. I won't apologize, as it's your own damn fault for not watching already!

Let's get started!

THE FIRST DAY:

My first ever anime

Easy one. My first ever anime was Dragonball Z, like many other youngsters with Cartoon Network in the late 90's-early 2000's. I started watching it because at the time my younger brother was a fan, and thus for half an hour each day it was on the living room TV. I'd watch as well because A: it was easy to make fun of and B: it was on the house's main TV in the middle of the afternoon. What was I supposed to do, go outside? *pssh*

The shift came quickly, however. I started the show in the Frieza Saga about the time the Ginyu Force shows up, and by the time Goku went Super Saiyan I was hooked.

What was your first anime?