One post was going to be about how I really want us to have a header image. This place just feels so sterile without one, don’t you think? I might have a temp one up at some point today, but if anyone has a good idea then feel free to mention it.

And then one time I was going to talk about intros to anime/video games. This was mostly spurred on by my intense liking of the borderlands intro:

There’s nothing awe-inspiring about it, I admit, but it’s cool and gives you an absolute perfect feeling about the game you’re about to play. I suppose they were helped by finding a song that so perfectly captures the game.

And I also really like the Durarara! opening.

It really got me thinking though. How many good games have you played and animes have you seen that have terrible beginnings? You’d think that these segments would have the MOST work put into them since the first impression is so important. And I don’t just mean opening as in an opening cinematic. I think Bioshock had a wonderful opening, but here I consider the “opening” to be pretty much the entire “Welcome to Rapture” level.

So what do you guys think? Have and great or terrible intros that you remember well?

Wonderfest was a few days ago so there are a lot of pictures of new figures and whatnot floating around. I think the best (english) coverage was done by wcloudxkumo.I think my favorite figure that came out of it is Momohime from Muramasa, which I still haven’t played. There were rumors of this going to Xbox 360 and PS3 so I was waiting for that, but I may have to cave in and get it for the Wii.

-Tony

The world is better with prinnies. You know what else the world is better with? Chocobos. So if you have an XBOX Live account follow this link to go sign up to get a free chocobo avatar item download token. Redeemable sometime in December.

-Tony

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ki ga tsuitara onaji men bakari purei
soshite itsumo onaji basho de shinu
akiramezu ni kieru ashiba ni chousen surukedo, sugu ni shita ni ochiru yo

aitemu nigou ga areba raku ni mukou no kishi made tsuku kedo
nankai yattemo nankai yattemo Ea-man ga taosenai yo
ano tatsumaki nankai yattemo yokerenai
ushiro ni mawatte uchitsuzuketemo izure wa kaze ni tobasareru
taimu renda mo tameshite mitakedo tatsumaki aite ja imi ga nai
dakara tsugi wa zettai katsu tame ni boku wa E-kan dake wa saigo made totte oku

ki ga tsuitara raifu mou sukoshi shika nai
soshite itsumo soko de E-kan tsukau
akiramezu ni Ea-man made tadoritsuku keredo, sugu ni zanki nakunaru

ri-fu shi-rudo ga areba raku ni Ea-man o taoseru kedo
nankai yattemo nankai yattemo uddo-man ga taosenai yo
ochiru konoha wa nankai yattemo yokerenai
ushiro ni sagatte kyori o tottemo izure wa kyori o tsumerareru
taimu renda mo tameshite mitakedo aitsu no janpu wa kugurenai
dakara tsugi wa zettai katsu tame ni boku wa E-kan dake wa saigo made totte oku

aitemu nigou ga areba raku ni mukou no kishi made tsuku kedo
nankai yattemo nankai yattemo Ea-man ga taosenai yo
ano tatsumaki nankai yattemo yokerenai
ushiro ni mawatte uchitsuzuketemo izure wa kaze ni tobasareru
taimu renda mo tameshite mitakedo tatsumaki aite ja imi ga nai
dakara tsugi wa zettai katsu tame ni boku wa E-kan dake wa saigo made totte oku

————————————————————–

Vocab List:

ki ga tsuku: To notice/become aware/realize
onaji: The same
men: This one is a bit odd in that when I look it up I get “face” or “mask”, but it can also mean a surface, which
seems more fitting here.
bakari: A multi faceted word, but here it means “nothing but [whatver precedes it]“.
purei: playEnglish word.
soshite: Thus/therefore
itsumo: always
basho: place/location/spot
shinu: to die
akirameru: To give up
kieru: to go out/vanish/be extinguished
ashiba: footing/scaffolding
chousen: challenge/defiance
suru: to do
kedo: but
sugu:soon/nearby
sugu ni: instantly
ochiru: to fall
aitemu: item
nigou: second volume/edition
raku:comfort
mukou: opposite side
kishi: bank/shore
made: up to
tsuku: to arrive at
nankai: how many times
yaru: to do
taosu: to fell/knock down
tatsumaki: tornado
yokeru: to avoid
usiro: behind
mawaru: to turn/revolve
uchitsukeru: to knock/strike hard
izure: sooner or later
kaze:wind
tobasu: to fire/hurl
renda: barrage
tamesu: to attempt
aku: to open
imi: meaning
tsugi: next
zettai: absolutely/unconditionally
katsu: to win
tame ni: for the sake of
boku: I (masculine)
dake: only
saigo: one’s last moment
totte oku: to set aside
sukoshi: a little/small quantity
shika: only, nothing but
tsukau: to use
tadoritsuku: to struggle on to/to finally arrive at
keredo: alternate of kedo
zanki: remaining lives
nakunaru: to die, to disappear/get lost
konoha: foliage/leaves
sagaru: to hang down/step back
kyori: distance/range
tottemo: very/exceedingly
tsumeru: to pack/plug/stop up, to make room for
aitsu: he/she
kuguru: to drive/pass through, to evade/hide, to survive, to get in

-Tony

Okay I’ll admit it, I have no bloody clue why I want a Zippo lighter so much. But this really isn’t helping. I love the Pac-Man one. What I don’t love? That it’s ~$110.

Link!

And by the way. I used the snipping tool to quickly crop that image. It’s useful already!

-Tony

Touhou’s Marisa Cosplay

K-ON!’s Yui

Vocaloid’s Rin

Chobit’s Chi

Impressive, no?

-Tony

And then there’s this picture whose original source I can’t find :\

For all your planet pumpkin destroying needs.

EDIT: Added part 3

-Tony

http://ngeekhiong.blogspot.com/2009/10/tierias-new-gundam-for-movie.html

New Gundam designs? They’re definitely not ones I’ve seen before (no, that top one isn’t Exia or OO). I’ve not sure I buy that bottom one being Tieria’s though. What with Tieria being linked to Veda and all. Unless it’s a flashback or something. Then again, cloning is not unheard of in this series. Guess we’ll find out next year.

http://akibahobby-c2.sakura.ne.jp/image/20091008/h025.html

Looks like some new Five Star Stories models. This one’s an LED Mirage. Used by Mirage Knights.

http://akibahobby.net/2009/10/plamodel49_mgv.html

And a MG Victory Gundam has been announced. I’m not too keen on the design but people seem to be excited about it since it’s the first MG from that series

http://blog.hobbystock.jp/report/2009/10/tp0229.html

Some new stuff from Good Smile.

http://tomopop.com/photo.phtml?post_key=9203&photo_key=20817

I do believe that this is my favorite K-ON figure so far. Although I hear that it’s a garage kit.

http://www.animetake.com/anime/seitokai-no-ichizon/

While I haven’t really seen enough of them to tell, this may be my favorite anime this season.

I’m halfway-ish through G Gundam now, my 5th Gundam Series. Right now I rank them: Gundam OO > Gundam Seed > Gundam (0079)(the original one) > G Gundam > Gundam Seed Destiny. Number two spot is almost a tie since I thought the first half of Gundam was better than the first half of Seed, but the second half of seed was better than the second half of Gundam.

O_o

Oh Japan, what would we do without you. This is apparently from a new fanservice-y anime called sora no otoshimono. Don’t think I’m gonna watch this one.

And since there’s no way that I can see to top that. I’m going to end it there.

-Tony