Well, ok, not really, but damn.

Remember that post I did about that elusive figure from Toradora? Well, I kept searching and stumbled upon a couple sites that seemed to bet on Yahoo! Auctions for you, and then ship the item straight to you. However, these sites were not only shaddy and seemingly hosted by chinese people who didn't seem to speak english very well, but also showed some pretty nasty, complicated hidden fees... Nothing too encouraging, really. In addition, it would mean I'd have to wait for the figure to actually be released, that or be even riskier and bid on a pre-order of the figure from someone who actually mailed in the form from the Dengeki magazine.

I didn't like any of that, so I kept searching and eventually stumbled on what would be my savior, a little blog called Tokyo Hunter that specializes in getting those rare magazine-only / limited edition figures for us non-natives and ships 'em straight here. The guy does it alone, has been doing it for years, has been spotted by me as a recommendation by people online on a couple occasions, speaks great english, updates regularly and is actually a pretty nice guy to deal with.

So, desperate, I mail him after the deadline to order the Taiga figure, and he tells me ordered a couple more to sell on e-bay, or to other people interested in case. And I just happened to be interested. Fucking interested. So, boom, I deposit the money in his Paypal account and it's pre-ordered! Costs a pretty penny, but damnit, it's of amazing quality, is actually pretty rare and exclusive ( something I don't have much of in my collection ) and has delicious flat chest.

Now, a day later, Nico sends me this link, and I'm like "whoamg". A decent Majutsu No Index figure? Of Biri-Biri-chan, no less? In a bathing suit?? SOLD. I mail the Tokyo Hunter again to inquire about it, and he immediately accepts to pre=order it for me and sell it at the same price as the previous one ( it's sold at the same price in the magazine as well ), however, I frankly don't feel like spending that kinda money twice in a row, so I remember that my dad didn't yet give me a birthday present and was asking for me to find something I'd want, so I mail him with the link and tell him I want to buy this figure.

He accepts, but his reply is simply out of this world hilarious.
So hilarious that I will translate the gist of it here:

"You're crazy to spend this much money on a figurine.
You're fantasizing on a piece of plastic.
Sure it's a collection, but you can't have contact with her....
You're 26 years old, you should start thinking about real girls that could love you and make you cum.

I love my dad, it's all so simple in his mind :D


So I pre-ordered it as well :3

There will be spoilers for the second season of Haruhi, up to episode 5.


So, I've been watching the second Haruhi Suzumiya, as any sane anime afficionado should, and the current ark has given me mixed feelings.

You see, episode 2 is basically a typical summer vacation one, where the gang sets out to enjoy all possible summer activities in a short span of time, only to please Haruhi's will. At the end of this vacation, they meet up and Haruhi reluctantly decides to give them a one day break before school starts again to relax and do their homework. The episode ends at the end of the last day.

Now, enter episode 3. Kyon, the main male protagonist, feels like there is some déjà-vu phenomenon occuring around him. Rightfully so, as episode 3 is the almost exact same as episode 2; Haruhi calls the gang over and she plans out a summer full of activity for them, and they do just that, exactly like they did in episode 2. However, he gets called by Mikuru in the middle of the night for an impromptu meeting with the gang, sans-Haruhi. This is where they learn that time has been repeating itself over and over; Haruhi feels some form of regret from her summer vacation and subconsciously resets it on the last day of summer at midnight. This has been going on for more than ten thousand times already. How they know? Yuki is the only one who remembers every single loop with insane precision, but she has not acted against it even once since she, after all, is only there to "observe" Haruhi and not take any action.

On the final day after they realize this, when Haruhi meets the gang for the last time and reluctantly decides to give them a day off, Kyon realizes that if he lets her go out the door, it'll be over and the summer will once again repeat itself... but in a moment of hesitation, he realizes he doesn't know what to say to her, he doesn't know what she wants, the thing that would end the summer vacation once and for all... Haruhi steps out, Kyon comes back home, gives up on his homework since the summer won't end anyway and leaves it for his future "self" to deal with the problem.

Episode 3 ends. And this is where things begin to get odd.

Episode 4 and 5 have basically been repeats of the very same events as episode 3, where the gang learns once again that they have been looped ( each episode being around 500 loops apart, if not more ), but with the characters saying slightly different lines, wearing different clothes and reacting a bit differently. And they ALL END THE SAME WAY. Meaning that the story has not taken a step forward for 3 whole episodes, and that a 4th one is likely to once again do the same thing!

Now, had things ended in Episode 4, I'd have felt like it went on for a bit too long but would have thought the concept original and applauded it, but this is just getting ridiculous and is draggin on for no good reason. A part of me thinks that, anyway. The other part is unexplicably getting attached to the ark, and it's getting me more and more irritated at Kyon's stubborness and foolishness to just "leave it be" and have us suffer through another loop. I was literally screaming at his stupid face to not let Haruhi go during the 5th episode, which, to me, says that the anime has done a good job of getting me emotionally attached to its plot and characters.

So, although this will certainly hurt the series' "replay value" if the time comes where I will watch it a second time, I believe I'll admit the first time through is quite enjoyable, original and epic, as Haruhi should rightfully be. I shall be impatiently awaiting the next loop!

( Note that all of this is likely a very late reaction since the anime is based on the books, which have been released a while ago, please don't be too harsh if you've known of all this for ages now :P )

I've just confirmed something yesterday that's been puzzling me for some time now.
In a video game, if you put me in a situation where I have free-roaming capacity in a very large sea where I may encounter dangers ( be it whirlpools, tornadoes or sea monsters ), it will creep me the fuck out.

It's not like I'm one to be easily creeped out in a video game, and even if there's no visible danger in the sea, I will still feel uneasy about it, it's literally like it hits me at the phobia level somehow, even though I've never had troubles in a real-life sea setting in the past.

Case in point: Okami and Wind Waker.
In Wind Waker, the whole freaking game was about roaming in a sea with tons of dangers. Even worse, it didn't give you very good control over your boat since the wind could only ever blow in one direction at a time, so evading the dangers was even more of a pain. Whirlpools and tornadoes on the sea surface especially scared me shitless.

In Okami, you get to ride on an orca in a relatively small ( compared to Wind Waker ) sea that has but one danger; a gigantic sea serpent that just randomly swims around and attacks you if you get close. The music even becomes menacing whenever he gets close to your position, and that's when I'd just lose it and high tail out of there. Even though the game presents it as simple exploration with an easily avoidable danger, I'd feel as scared as I would be if I were playing the nastiest parts of Silent Hill alone at 3 am in the dark, if not more so.


Well then, I'm sure there's some psychological explanation for this, but I won't venture there :P Let's just hope this sort of free-roaming sea thing doesn't become too popular!

So I'm going to go on a bit of a rant here, you'll likely not know what the hell I'm talking about, but this is for me. I need it to feel better.

There's this anime called K-On that just recently stopped airing. It followed the story of a light music ( pop music ) high school club filled with adolescent girls, all showcasing different moe personalities. They learn to play as a band, generally do nothing of their meetings, perform in school festival shows and get through moderate drama as it goes. It was incredibly popular both for its music and its moe factor.

Except... this anime's been done before. It was called "Manabi Straight!" and it was so painfully similar to K-On that it irks me to see people comparing K-On to Haruhi and never once realizing that they basically took Manabi Straight!'s cast of characters and dumped them in another ( albeit still very similar ) setting.

I was going through it in my head, and I can definitely back it up, so here's a comparison of the similar characters in both series, with image reference!

The Manabi Crew:


The K-On Crew:




Character similarities:

Manabi: Manami Amamiya (bottom left)
K-On: Yui Hirasawa (bottom left)

- Both are the main characters.
- Air heads and don't know much about anything
- Energetic to no end and charismatic


Manabi: Mika Inamori (bottom right)
K-On: Azusa Nakano (second K-On picture)

- The obligatory cat girls that, while not being actual cat girls, are labeled as being cat-like and follow the usual stereotypes.
- Shy at first but slowly picks herself up as it goes.
- Looks up to another character of the main cast.


Manabi: Mutsuki Uehara (top middle)
K-On: Ritsu Tainaka (top left)

- The painfully obvious tomboy girl of the cast.
- Is the older sister of one or many little brothers.
- Forgets everything all the time.
- Care-free lifestyle and no attention span.
- Often gets hit by the tsundere girl for making jokes about her or of general bad taste.
- Has actually known the tsundere girl since early childhood and is best friends with her.


Manabi: Mei Etoh (top left)
K-On: Mio Akiyama (top right)

- The tsundere ( can be many things, but, the sake of this rant, she's the girl that looks hard on the outside at first glance, but is actually soft inside )
- Often hits the tomboy girl for making jokes at her expense or of general bad taste.
- Has actually known the tomboy girl since early childhood and is best friends with her.
- Is very good and professional at what she does best, but any tasks diverging from her expertise will make her uncomfortable and shy.
- Has the biggest boobs of the cast and has long, dark hair.


Manabi: Momoha Odori (top right)
K-On: Tsumugi Kotobuki (bottom right)

- The "outsider" girl, as I like to call her.
- She joins out of curiosity and because the club sounds fun
- Quiet personality.
- Is the daughter of a rich family but doesn't really mention it.
- Has long, light brown/blonde hair.


In addition:
- Both anime have the cast eventually perform on stage as a band.
- An upbeat, but awkward teacher helps them with their club, even though he/she isn't exactly fitting with the group.


So, with all this, I'm sure you can all attest that ignoring the similarities between K-On and Manabi Straight! is RETARDED. Even though these characters may portray typical stereotypes, the fact that they are all gathered in such an almost perfectly parallel setting in two different universes is just a bit too coïncidental to ignore.

There is no moral here except that, if anything, Manabi Straight should get the credit for being the inspiration behind K-On, and that it is a mystery that it didn't gather as much attention as K-On did.

Japan is being dirty with me these days.
Two of the best figures released of the year were Japan-only exclusives, the first one was a POP-influenced (artist) figure sold only on a Japanese website that the usual figure outlets apparently didn't get a hold of and wasn't sold to anyone outside Japan. I was forced to ask a friend of mine living in Japan to get it for me and ship it here, but it's gotten stuck at the Canadian borders for a month now for no apparent reason. Luckily my friend has insurance on it, so I won't have to pay him if things get awry, but on the other hand I would never get the figure as well, since said friend is coming back from Japan on July 1st, making it impossible for him to re-order it.

The second one of Taiga from Toradora! is even more of a pain; it can actually only be ordered through July's Dengeki Daioh Magazine, which includes the order form for the figure ( whose cut-off date for ordering is June 26th ). To top it off, it will only be shipped to addresses in Japan, so I'm doubly screwed. The only person I now know living in Japan is Greg, and I don't exactly know him enough to ask for such a huge favor, let alone expect him to trust me enough to pay him back ( very subtle hint, I know ), otherwise I'll have to attempt ebay somewhere around October when the figure is actually released.

But damn do I want those two badly, even if they end up costing me more than the actual price. Been waiting for a good Taiga figurine and now that it has come, it's playing hard to get? Well I'll take that challenge, Taiga, do not under-estimate the power of this loli-lover's iron will! UOOOOOO~

If you're doing a favor for someone, and he asks if you want to get paid for it, it means he doesn't want to.

Week late Anime North 2009 post waiwai!

I'm uploading all the mild to very interesting pics as I type.
Anime North wasn't bad this year, it feels like getting a room in the Doubletree hotel automatically makes everything more enjoyable, since you're right in the midst of everything, except the elevators are hell on earth. Of the 6, about 3 were working, and they had to move around 15+ floors worth of bulky cosplayers at all times... and the stairs were blocked for the duration of the convention, because security is being an ass about who gets to go up to the rooms; if you don't show your door card at the entrance of the elevators, you're fucked. Luckily, our whole group of 5 had reserved there. And in a stroke of uncanny luck, we were given adjacent rooms!

I was Dr.Stein from Soul Eater. Bought a wig and glasses for the occasion, and had the pants, shirt, lab coat, scar on the face and screw through the head done for me by Alix. I had somewhat promised that I'd let her do this costume for me last year, so even though I'm generally against doing "popular cosplays", I went with it and thought it'd be nice to get some attention for once instead of wearing some obscure cosplay that turns only a head or two. There was one problem, though. I was taken in picture only one, stinking, measly time. So much for getting more attention, either my cosplay just wasn't that good, or there were just too many Dr.Steins this year, which is likely because the Soul Eater photoshoot ( that I missed ) had a good dozen of them showing up. That'll teach me to try and get some attention, I'll stick to the obscure but awesome characters in the future if I can :P

Among the highlights was the J-Rave, which was miles ahead of last year's very underwhelming effort ( but effort nonetheless ) with a gigantic room, massive attendance, better DJs ( in the sense that they stopped playing the bad tracks when they saw the crowd go numb, not that they had any actual DJ skills ), and generally better music. It still had its share of embarassing moments, such as "train chains" forming throughout the entire night, horrible mass group choreographies, and a mosh pit forming during the Mortal Kombat track ( I kid you not ). We did also do the Caramell Dansen dance, but that wasn't embarassing, that was amazing. They also played 2 of the tracks I sent them, at which times I lost track of all my senses and went skull-fucking the speakers for a couple minutes. Also, one of the things that immediately turned most people off was the fact that the lights were fully turned on. Our glowsticks barely even glowed since the whole room felt like it was in the middle of the day, takes a bit of getting used to before you can let yourself go a bit. Regardless, much better experience than last year, and I've sent them a nice mail with ONLY about 66% of negative stuff to say!

Then there was the Maid Café, which I had sorely regretted missing last year, after seeing all the actually cute maids working there and the seemingly perfect maid café mood. I managed to coach Simon and Dave into follow me this time, so we got our tickets for 2 pm and separated to better meet up later. We sat down and were immediately treated to the Mune Kyun Kyun Dance, which turned out to be the most memorable moment of the experience, as things kinda went downhill from there. All the maids were somewhat cute, mostly asians, a few white girls... forgiveable, and... a black girl? Honestly? A black maid in a Japanese-themed maid café? There's just no way I can say this without sounding racist, but godamnit I'll say it anyway: that's just not right, even if she WAS cute.

Did I mention our table got the black maid? Ah, sorry, I didn't think I had to specify that.
Second bad impression: She doesn't act like a maid at all! She just takes our order of drinks all casual-like and leaves, only to come back with only about 2/3rd of what we ordered because they didn't have most of the drinks we ordered anymore ( and that includes Coke )! Then she brings this huge fancy thing with multiple layers of food on it, and she tells us there's one piece of everything for everyone on it. She then does one of the few maid-like things she did and asks us if we want her to draw something with caramel on our pieces of cake. I go blank and can only think of taking this chance to ask for the most typical thing: a heart. Then the next guy asks for a Pedobear... and she actually knows what it is and draws it!

At the end of our 30-minute meal, all the maids gather in the front and the head maid ( a.k.a the hottest ) challenges us all to a game of jankenpon ( rock paper scissors ), which is actually an ongoing practice in Japanese maid cafés. The winner gets to have a cake spoonfed to him by the head maid herself and takes a pic with her and all the other maids. I made it to the "semi-finals" of sorts, but then got mind-gamed something fierce. I left with mixed feelings, but it was still a fond memory of the trip.

For a trip through pictures of the con, check out the album I made on Photobucket:
Anime North 2009 album


And now I will delve into the detailing of the fantastic stash of stuff I bought from the dealers' room and the Gashapon I received from Alix upon meeting her for the con, as she had gotten me a few on her trip to Japan.

( Details are behind a cut, because most of it is NSFW. Click only if you are awesome. )

This will have to do for the AN 2009 resumé, hopefully I've provided you all with a good read!

So I switched to Dreamwidth.
Apparently they allow me to post on both my old journal and this one at the same time... Let's see how well that works.

So I housed two guys from Ottawa for the BISB Brawl tournament ("Brawl Is Serious Business") that happened yesterday, even though I basically refused when the first one asked me if he could bring his friend that decided to join in at the last second :| The other guy borrowed my cellphone on the morning of the tournament, after spending the night, and he calls his parents. He spends most of his conversation apologising for something, so I ask him what happened, and turns out he didn't even warn his parents that he'd leave town for the week-end. That's pretty bad in itself, considering he still lives with them, but the best part is that his mom was freaking out; she called everyone from the Ottawa Smash community at like 8 in the morning asking them if they knew where he was. Obviously no one knew, so they started making posts on the Montreal Thread and tournament thread on the Smashboards forum saying that his mom was worried about him and he should call her as soon as possible XD How embarassing :D

As for the tournament... nothing worth reporting, really. I was tired as hell since Friday. I did very average, as usual, and there wasn't even any pools, so I played few games. Oh, but I got booted out of Winners bracket by Ally!

Lol, anime, is there a limit to where you will go?

Nope <- Warning: NSFW and hilarious. ( Just click play, close the ad, and click play again )
Don't say I never think about you boob fans! ( and yes, this OVA is currently #2 in DVD sales on Amazon.jp ) The push-up/sit-up sequences get mad brutal near the end though D:

To further prove my point, I've also just found out about a 3-episode anime that teaches sex-ed to lolies and their "growing bodies".

And then yesterday, I'm watching Sora o Kakeru Shoujo, a series set in the future with a normally developing plotline, character development and a reasonable level of humor. Episode 8 ends with a cliffhanger of sorts, but then in episode 9, the whole plot is thrown out the window in favor of an alternate universe story where all the characters are playing baseball and possess superhuman powers, only to return to the normal story in the next episode, without so much as an explanation. I could understand this in a random series Excel Saga, but this one definitely came out of the blue.


Just came out of my first try at the new training at the gym.
It's just psychotic. The guy said I have to keep raising the weights until I /can't/ complete the set, but then if I do that, the rest of my exercises suffer because I'm out of energy! Not to mention the loud grunting during the exercises where I just have to stay in a certain excrutiating position for as long as I can... three times in a row! And that cardio running almost killed me, even if I only did HALF as long as what I was supposed to do and even set the speed lower ;;;D: I'll try again next time, but a bit slower... and with an mp3 player that won't have its batteries die on me in the first 30 seconds.

So I got the results of this sort of general physiological test at the gym, and it says my body's "13 years older" than it should be D:

I'm the equivalent of a 69 year old when it comes to the strength of my hands' grip, the flexibility of my hips and my vertical jumping height...

Buuut I have the waist of a 15 year old :3

I say it's a trap to get you to train more, like when Wii Fit told everyone they were fat :D

This.



Every morning, the goddamned sleeves bend that way.
The irritating is building, more and more every day.

This is where I waste an evening listing all the animes of the new season I've seen and give you my ( very crude, unresearched ) impressions. I have given quite a lot of them 'wee views'(lol) of 1 or 2 episodes, so impressions may change with time, but there IS no time. You must watch now. If you want to check 'em out without torrents, there's always zomganime, Crunchyroll or even Veoh for your streaming needs.

Oh and the list isn't exhaustive, there are a few I missed / didn't deem necessary to describe. There are too many D:

( All Wee Views behind cut! )

Why is it so hard to leave clear, concise messages on the phone without, at some point, sounding retarded? I must work on this skill. Especially concluding the message, at which point I will usually blurt out random words in a closure tone and hang up.


Been curious about chiptunes for some time now, and Simon has found what is, so far, the best source for streaming them that works from the office:
www.micromusic.net ( watch it, might start playing automatically )

It can take some time for the good stuff to air, but chiptunes done right is just sweet.


Simben linked me to this. It is full of true!


I have watched the first episode of Kigurumikku V3.
The jizz just oozes out.

Dragonball. It is incredibad.
I didn't know it was still possible to still make such horrible movies in our time.
The dialogue, the plot holes, the not-making-any-sense, the acting, the "balls" references, it's just all beyond.

I urge all to go see it as drunk as possible with a bunch of friends who are all expecting a very bad movie. You'll have a great time.

I am eating a bowl of chili and a bowl of curry lentils for supper.

I must hate my body.

Pangasius is now my new favorite fish.
I just crammed that mofo in the oven for 20 minutes, and it tastes like I... did stuff to it, like add flavor.

Plus its name sounds like a Greek god.


I hear Queen's Blade is this season's replacement for Platonic Heart. I'm skeptical, but I'll give it a try just in case it comes close to being as atrocious.

Lol at Saki being an anime about Mahjong, but with a cast consisting of, almost, entirely overly cute high school girls that are somehow all hyped up about Mahjong.

Also, this looks amazing(ly loli).

WELCOME BACK, HAYATE! :D


I don't care how gay RE5's controls and design decisions can get, I'm ready to forgive a lot when it comes to coop story modes. Although goddamn, the inventory system fails in so many ways. I also miss the head-exploding suplexes of RE4. At least they have included all the audience-pleasing hits, such as the Sparta kick, Captain Falcon knee, Falcon Punch, Steven Seagal neck-breaker and, of course, the Norris roundhouse kick.

They've released ( or are about to release ) the versus modes for the game on XBL.
Am I wrong to think that deathmatch in a game that doesn't allow you to roll, take cover or MOVE AND SHOOT AT THE SAME TIME is a very bad idea? Or just maybe... it gets hilarious when no one takes it seriously? I'm torn.

Look at this!

What have you done to Shana!
Her face looks like a boy's. Or a very constipated girl.
And that's not a cameltoe, it's a BALL SACK.

How is this a restock? It's one of the worst figurines I ever saw!


In other news, I need to find a good samaritan in Japan willing to buy this one for me since they won't ship outside of Japan D:


I have downloaded two different movies that are both Turkish, and are both about Rambo. This can't be anything but epic.

Stupid doctor's office only opens at 9am, walked all the way there for nothing.

Next Saturday, I might once again show up on 3600 secondes d'extase! We were called back for a second recording, only this time it was outside. In the cold rain. We had to follow a truck with a platform in the back, where Marc Labrèche was singing with two back-up dancers/singers in the back. It's the traditional end of season videoclip, and this time, they wanted a crowd in delirium following them, except we were only allowed to walk on the sidewalks, which made it pretty hard to follow the moving truck, cheer and not fall down / hit random objects or people.

After three repeats of the song, the truck turned to the right and we all gathered next to it for one final cheer. It's at that time that a camera panned the whole crowd, with me right in front of it. I'm hoping they'll not cut this in editing D: Especially since we were all drenched in water and tired. We worked for that one.


In other news, I finally succeeded at recovering the data from the sole hard disk that did not bust when my computer fried months ago! All my music, photos and lolies <3


Oh, and one last thing that I must drill into everyone's mind: The new MSN Live... it accepts animated gifs as your avatar. 96*96, up to 200k. Works as long as you don't put transparency on your conversation windows, and it is amazing. I have thus created a Nagi gif, constantly looping the "fuwa fuwa" in the OP. And am already working on some Zelda CD-i gifs with the king's now world famous "enough!" and "mah boy" gestures. Epic times ahead.

It was about time Gmail included a progress bar when uploading attachments.

In Platonic Heart news, the main protagonist knee'd a speeding car's windshield, making it break into deadly shards, killing the driver and sending the car plowing into the sea.

The driver's two friends jump to her rescue, and seemingly drown trying.

Did I not tell you it was awesome?

So I just came back from the recording of next Saturday's 3600 Secondes d'Extase show, which is a show I love with comedians I love.
I had contacted the show weeks ago to see what the requirements for participating as audience were, and that led to me gathering 15 people from work to go there. 2 groups of 15 people meet up and they record all the non-sketch parts of the show live with the audience.

It started out in a square spot with a fireplace in the middle. Marc Labreche, the show's host, dresses up and sits among us to record to some pre-planned retorts at the actual show. The fireplace wouldn't start, so they moved the camera around in a way that would completely hide me from it.

Then, later, half the crowd ( including me ) moves to a large couch to the right of the host's desk. Everyone rushes to get the spots close to the front, and I get a nice spot wayyyy back there, next a camera, where no one is going to record for the whole show.

Then they select a couple people for small skits with the host that will be aired in the show's intro. Even though I show great interest, no dice, I don't make it to one of them.

So basically, I get everyone to come, but I don't get even a second of air time, even though the show is designed to pretty much get everyone on-screen at least once XD It was kinda sad.

But regardless, the show was great, we got free beer, I took a pic or two, and I still had a blast. We'll see if I got a little air time when it airs next Saturday, I expect great deception D: