Pumpkin's Palette + Autumn Anime Season Wrap up

Oogami from Code:Breaker reminded me of Rin from Ao no Exorcist with the blue flames and sword

Mikoto [K]
(I'm never going to officially finish this sketch)

Most of this season's animes are more or less wrapping up in these two weeks. 

Firstly, Sword Art Online. I still think that the anime does not do the original novel any justice. Many important interactions and emotions of certain characters were not portrayed well, if at all, in the anime, and the arrangement of the story in the anime was very poor. I highly recommend people go and read the original light novel.

Btooom!: The last few episodes felt rushed. Again some in-depth interactions between characters were missing, which were present in the manga. However, they left enough cliff hangers for viewers to want to watch the second season.

Ko-inu from Code:Breaker

Code:Breaker: This anime started off well. I'm just annoyed that they deviated from the original manga storyline and made one of the characters I enjoyed into "acting evil". It lacked character development, not that there was much to begin with in the manga though. One would find the story confusing because there is no explanation of why the characters acted the way they did. I felt that the art slowly degraded.

Mikoto - I was trying a new method of shading

[K]: There are many mixed feelings about this anime. There will be dislike due to the under-developed plot and characters.  You won't understand what is going on until around the 3rd/2nd last episode, and by the last episode things escalates so quickly it leaves the viewer go "What!? It ended already?". There were quite a few flash back scenes which helped a little with character development. Nevertheless, the art and animation are amazing and very detailed. I loved the sound, they must've spent a lot of money hiring the bunch of famous seiyuus. The BGM was excellent and so were the character songs. There are many many many fan-service scenes, big boobs, short skirts, lolis, BL, and I leave it to the viewer to decide whether this is a love or hate factor. I kind of expected the ending, but then in the corner of my fangirl heart I would hope that it wouldn't become true. Unfortunately, [K] ends with melancholy. Good news is that a second season is slated for future release, so something to look forward to while reading the manga side stories.

MikotoXMunakata and ShiroXNeko (Inspired by ep 13 of [K])

Anna [K] parody of Wooser

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!: I think this is one of the best romance comedies that I have seen. This anime takes viewers down memory-lane to their childhood, instigating nostalgia and perhaps not so pleasant memories. I think many viewers can agree to the emotions of the characters because I think that almost everyone has been through "chuu-ni byou", the phase of life where your imagination runs wild and merge your fantasy world with the real world. The OP and ED songs were also well written and performed.

Mikoto [K] parody of Wooser

Wooser no Sono (Hi)Gurashi: This is a set of random 2 minute stories, well more like parodies of other anime. It's funny only if you get the references, otherwise this will be a bunch of jumble with no storyline.

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun: This is a light hearted shoujo comedy. I'm not one for lovey-dovey stories but this anime was bearable because of certain bishies in it, oh and I mustn't forget the chicken. The main characters' personalities really irritate me. It's set in the typical high school setting.

Nagoya from Tonari no Kaibutsu kun

Kamisama Hajimemashita: Also another shoujo anime. This has more lovey-dovey elements than Tonari, but then KamisamaH has more bishies (and better seiyuus) than Tonari.

Chibi Tomoe from Kamisama Hajimemashita

Finally, a small parody of mine based off ep 12 of [K].

Seri [K] parody of Wooser

Neko [K] parody of Wooser

Misaki [K] parody of Wooser

Munakata [K] parody of Wooser

Minami-ke Tadaima’s 1st PV: get high with new OP Shiawase High Tension

One of the hallmarks of the Minami-ke TV anime series, now in its fourth season with January 2013′s Minami-ke Tadaima, is its upbeat, infectiously catchy opening and ending themes, always performed by Rina Sato, Marina Inoue, and Minori Chihara – the voice actresses who play the comedy gag anime’s protagonists, sisters Haruka (eldest), Kana (middle child) and Chiaki (youngest) Minami.

That part hasn’t changed one bit in this fourth season, as you’ll tell in a moment by watching Minami-ke Tadaima’s first promo video trailer.

The new season’s opening theme, Shiawase High Tension (シアワセ☆ハイテンション↑↑ or Happiness High Tension) is every bit classic Minami-ke, complete with an “M-I-N-A-M-I-K-E, let’s go” chant thrown in at the most vicarious points of the song.

What has changed in the fourth season of the TV series is a new director – well, a different one has taken the helm every season.

This time around the hot seat’s fallen to Keiichiro Kawaguchi (Mayo Chiki, Zettai Karen Children, Minami-ke Omatase). The new season is also now produced by studio Feel (who also did Minami-ke Omatase), instead of Asread, the studio responsible for the first three TV anime seasons.

Minami-ke Tadaima is slated to premiere on Tokyo TV late on January 5 (technically January 6, since the broadcast is after midnight).

The show’s opening theme, Shiawase High Tension, will also released as a CD single (paired with Triple Attention, the opening theme to Minami-ke’s Web Radio series) on January 23, 2013.

Source: SGCafe

New Magi OP and ED songs by Porno Grafitti and supercell

It has been announced that Porno Grafitti and supercell are the artists for the second set of theme songs for Magi. The former will perform the opening song and the latter will be singing the ending song.

We have yet to hear the title of the song by supercell, but Porno Grafitti has already revealed that their single, Matataku hoshi no shita de, will be featured as Magi’s second opening song.

Source: SGCafe

New Figure for Lelouch Lamperouge

Hyper Hobby magazine has announced that the SH FiguArts Zero is slated for an April 2013 release in Japan.

This gallant figure of Code Geass‘ antihero stands 140 millimeters tall and comes with an alternate head. You can also remove the cape and interchange the hands. Upon release, the SH FiguArts Zero will cost 3,990 JPY (around 47 USD).

Source: SGCafe

'Kuroko no Basuke' Anime Gets 2nd Season

Shueisha's Shonen Jump Next magazine is announcing on Friday that production on a second season of the Kuroko's Basketball anime has been green-lit. The first season based on Tadatoshi Fujimaki's manga ran from April to September of this year.

Source: ANN

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F (PS3) accessory set comes with skins for every PS3 model in existence

Also contained in this seven-item PS3 accessories set are a Dual Shock 3 controller skin, a controller stand, mascot figure, cleaning cloth, a charm strap, and a set of four (earphone) cord managers themed after Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, and Megurine Luka.

The Dual Shock 3 controller skin and stand, as well as the Hatsune Miku mascot figure contained in the pack can be seen in the image above.

And here are what the cleaning cloth, charm strap, and set of four cord managers look like:

Cleaning cloth

Charm strap

Cord managers

Design A

Design B

As for the PS3 skins, if you own the latest “super slim” model, you have a choice between two designs (both are apparently included in the pack, and you’re encouraged to swap between them the same way you do Vocaloid modules in Hatsune Miku: Project Diva games):

Owners of the previous model, the “slim” PS3, will have quite a little more real estate to work with, so an image of Hatsune Miku herself will actually grace the top of your console:

As for gamers who own the gigantic first-generation model of the PS3 (like myself), well, that’seven more real estate:

If you happen to more than one of the three types of PS3s as shown above, then you’re in luck: all four of the skins above will be included in the pack. It strikes me as a little odd, since normally it’s pretty costly to buy just one PS3 skin alone, much like get a pack of four skins (at least two of which the typical PS3 user would not lead) as well as a bunch of other cool accessories.

But according to this image provided by Amazon Japan, everything does indeed come in one package.

Price for the entire pack? According to Sega, the recommended retail price is 4,179 yen including tax.

But! If you go to Amazon Japan now, you’ll see that they’re offering a discount for the set, slashing the price down to 3,409 yen for the whole thing!

On AmiAmi (who ships internationally), the same set can also be pre-ordered for 3,540 yen(not including shipping).

For that price it’s quite unbelievable that Sega is including four PS3 skins in one package, but if you try to order the accessories set there does not seem to be a field where you can indicate which PS3 skin you’d like. There’s also no other indication that each customer is entitled to only one of the PS3 skins per pack.

Regardless, if you want this, you ought to pre-order it right away. On Amazon’s site at least, they’ve said that they are anticipating high demand for the item, and thus will allow only one order per customer.

The Hatsune Miku Project Diva F PS3 accessories set comes out the same day as the game itself, on March 7, 2013.

Source: SGCafe

Japan Develops "Virtual Body" Tech Using All 5 Senses!

While the rest of the world fiddles with stuff like smart phones and clean energy, the Ikei Laboratory of Tokyo Metropolitan University Graduate School of System Design are straight-up working on “virtual body” technology that engages all five senses (that’s vision, touch, smell, taste, and hearing for those of you counting) for a truly out of this world experience. Watch a demo video below!

So far, the prototype looks a bit like a Matrix-eque nightmare (complete with torture chair), but we’re willing to trade in a bit of our humanity for the chance to walk around a virtual Milan, or winning a virtual 100-meter dash, as long as someone remembers to unplug it before going to bed. Or change our adult diapers every couple of hours. Whichever comes first.

Source: Diginfonews, CR

YouTube’s Top Ten Viral Videos of 2012

South Korean rapper Psy in Los Angeles, California, in this November 18, 2012 file photo.

It’s harder to stumble into viral video fame these days. But YouTube has just released a list of the top ten videos that managed to find massive viral viewership this year.

Five years ago, when YouTube pieced together its first list of the year’s top ten videos, many were accidental home videos or amateurish films never designed for widespread consumption, said Kevin Allocca, a trends manager for the company.

With nine of the ten videos that made this year’s YouTube list coming from professional producers, making a video that appears to be an accidental hit is becoming increasingly typical. The list was released Tuesday morning.

“There are more and more people who know how to build an audience, how to use YouTube,” Allocca said. “There are companies who spend millions and millions of dollars trying to do create these videos.”

The only video on this year’s list not professionally produced was “Facebook Parenting,” a brash video that shows a father shooting his daughter’s laptop after she used it to make disparaging and profane remarks about him.

It created a wealth of controversy, with some parents appreciating the “hard love” parenting style, while others saying he went overboard.

The list, topped by the ubiquitous “Gangnam Style,” was cobbled together primarily by views. But YouTube also considered how many times the video had been shared, parodied and commented on by users.

Several other trends emerged from this year’s list, Allocca said. The most-popular videos are generally growing lengthier — this year’s longest, “Kony 2012″ spanned 31 minutes. It also attracted more than 30 million page views during a single day in March, giving it the all-time 24-hour record.

Also, more of the videos are drawing worldwide appeal, Allocca said, citing “Gangnam Style.” Its catchy beat crossed oceans, even if many of the listeners had no clue what the lyrics meant.

Given the 2012 election, politics certainly tinged this year’s list: videos of Obama and Romney were viewed more than two billion times, according to YouTube. The most popular video? “Epic Rap Battles: Obama vs. Romney,” which featured two hilarious rappers — albeit ones that didn’t look much like the candidates.

“I’m not gonna let this battle be dictated by facts,” a Romney impersonator rhymes to open the video. “I’m rich. I’ve got fat stacks and super PACs.”

Here are this year’s top 10 videos, along with brief descriptions. What were your favorites? What videos should have been included?

1) PSY – Gangnam Style: Do you know what this video is really about? Do you care? Just keep dancing.

2) Walk off the Earth: This was the year’s most popular cover song, with more than 140 million views.

3) KONY 2012: Even though this video lasted more than 30 minutes, it attracted more than 30 million viewers during a single day in March, giving it the all-time 24 hour record.

4) Call Me Maybe - Bieber, Gomez, Pena: Even economic writers were using the lyrics of this song to explain the complications of the euro zone crisis.

5) Epic Rap Battles – Obama vs. Romney: Why watch the candidates discuss substantive issues when you can watch impersonators blend half-truthful caricatures into hilarious rap battles?

6) Dramatic Surprise: More people watched this video of a mysterious sign in the middle of a Flemish square than the population. Keep calm and carry on, people.

7) Why You Asking All Them Questions: Why do girls ask so many questions? Why did more than 39 million people watch this video? Where did they get that delicious fried chicken?

8) Lindsey Stirling: C’mon. You knew dubstep – mixed with a violin — would be on the list. Right? Welcome to 2012.

9) Facebook Parenting: This dad, whose daughter disparaged him on her Facebook FB -1.08% account, wasn’t happy. So he took her laptop into a field and peppered it with a barrage of bullets. Seems logical, right?

10) Stratos Highlights: Why was Felix Baumgartner jumping from 128,000 feet into our atmosphere? No clue, but eight million people tuned in to watch live.

Source

Pumpkin's Palette: Yamaken

It feels like it's been a long time since I last drew doodled on a piece of paper with a pen/pencil.
So here is my favourite character from the shoujo anime/manga Tonari no Kaibutsu kun, Yamaguchi Kenji, aka. Yamaken.

2012 Top 10's of the Anime World

A Chinese TV show has asked viewers to vote for their '2012 Top 10' in all things anime related. These are the results. (Note that video commentary is in Chinese Mandarin).

What's your '2012 Top 10' list?

2012 Top 10 Anime: 2012年人气动画TOP10
10- Another
9 - Gintama
8 - Natsume Yuujinchou
7-  Hyouka
6- Guilty Crown
5-  Nisemonogatari
4-  Accel World
3-  Chuunibyou Demo Koi Ga Shitai!!
2-  Sword Art Online
1-  Fate/Zero

2012 Top 10 Anime Songs: 2012人气动漫歌曲TOP10
10- the everlasting/ Guilty crown OP 2
9- overfly/ Sword Art Online ED 2
8- Bios/ Guilty Crown OST
7- Oath Sign/ FATE/ZERO OP
6- 白金ディスコ (Platinum Disco)/ Nisemonogatari OP3
5- ビードロ模様 (Vidro Moyou)/ Ano Natsu de Matteru ED
4- Crossing Field/ Sword Art Online OP
3- Eutrepe/ Guilty Crown OST
2- To The Beginning/ FATE/ZERO OP2
1- MEMORIA/ FATE/ZERO ED

2012 Top 10 Female Characters: 2012年人气动画女性角色TOP10
10- 《Nisemonogatari》Sengoku Nadeko
9- 《Another》Misaki Mei
8- 《Shakugan no Shana》Shana
7-《Mirai Nikki》Yuno Gasai
6 -《Accel World》Kuroyukihime
5- 《Guilty Crown》Inori Yuzuriha
4- 《Hyouka》Eru Chitanda
3- 《Sword Art Online》Asuna
2-《Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai!》Rikka Takanashi
1- 《Fate/Zero》Saber

2012 Top 10 Male Characters: 2012年人气动画男性角色TOP10

10- 《Accel World》Haruyuki Arita
9- 《Gintama》Gintoki Sakata
8- 《Guilty Crown》Shu Ouma
7- 《Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai!》Yuuta Togashi
6- 《Hyouka》Houtarou Oreki
5- 《Fate/Zero》Kiritsugu Emiya
4- 《Nisemonogatari》Koyomi Araragi
3- 《Natsume Yuujinchou》Takashi Natsume
2- 《Fate/Zero》Rider
1- 《Sword Art Online》Kirito

2012 Top 10 Female Seiyuus:2012年人气女性声优TOP10
10- 丰崎 爱生 TOYOSAKI AKI
9- 泽城 美幸 SAWASHIRO MIYUKI
8- 水树 奈奈 MIZUKI NANA
7- 井口 裕香 IGUCHI YUKA
6- 户松 遥 TOMATSU HARUKA
5- 茅野 爱衣 KAYANO AI
4- 坂本 真绫 SAKAMOTO MAAYA
3- 川澄 绫子 KAWASUMI AYAKO
2- 钉宫 理惠 KUGIMIYA RIE
1- 花泽 香菜 HANAZAWA KANA

2012 Top 10 Male Seiyuus: 2012年人气男性声优TOP10
10- 宫野 真守 MIYANO MAMORU
9- 梶 裕贵 KAJI YUUKI
8- 石田 彰 ISHIDA AKIRA
7- 风本 信彦 OKAMOTO NOBUSHIKO
6- 松冈 祯丞 MATSUOKA YOSHITSUGU
5- 杉田 智和 SUGITA TOMOKAZU
4- 小野 大辅 ONO DAISUKE
3- 中村 悠一 NAKAMURA YUUICHI
2- 神谷 浩史 KAMIYA HIROSHI
1- 福山 润 FUKUYAMA JUN

Studio Ghibli to release two movies simultaneously in 2013

On December 13th, Studio Ghibli announced that they would release two movies ”Kaze Tachinu“, which is directed by Miyazaki Hayao, and “Kaguya-hime no Monogatari“, directed by Takahata Isao, simultaneously.

It’s been the first time in 25 years that director Miyazaki and director Takahata’s works have been released at the same time since “Tonari no Totoro“ (“My Neighbor Totoro”) and “Hotaru no Haka“ (“Grave of the Fireflies”) were released as a double-feature movie back in 1988. Moreover, this will be the first time for Studio Ghibli to release two movies on the same day separately.

“Kaze Tachinu” is based on Miyazaki’s manga, which was serialized in the magazine “Monthly Model Graphix“, and it features the life of Horikoshi Jiro, the chief engineer of the Zero fighter plane. Hisaishi Joe is in charge of the music, and for its theme song, Studio Ghibli’s producerSuzuki Toshio made a public offer to singer Matsutoya Yumi when they attended the talk event for the release of “Majo no Takkyubin“ (“Kiki’s Delivery Service”) and “Omohide Poroporo“ (“Only Yesterday”) on Blu-ray discs.

On the other hand, “Kaguya-hime no Monogatari” will be the first work in 14 years for Takahata since “Hohokekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun“ (“My Neighbors the Yamadas”). Reportedly, Takahata started working on it since in 2005. It will be based on “Taketori Monogatari“, which is considered the oldest existing Japanese narrative, and Takahata is in charge of the original scheme as well as the scenario. Sakaguchi Riko, who is known for TV drama “Watashi ga Renai Dekinai Riyuu”, is also participating in the scenario.

Both “Kaze Tachinu” and “Kaguya-hime no Monogatari” will be released in the summer of 2013.

Source & Image: Cinematoday, tokyohive

NHK Radio Show Lists Top 10 Anime Heroine Finalists

NHK's Shibuya Anime Land radio show announced on Friday the 10 finalists who will compete to be crowned the number one anime heroine in the past 50 years.

Homura Akemi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Rei Ayanami (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

Sakura Kinomoto (Card Captor Sakura)

Haruhi Suzumiya (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)

Fate Testarossa (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha)

Haruka Amami (The IDOLM@STER)

Madoka Kaname (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Rukia Kuchiki (Bleach)

Yui Hirasawa (K-ON!)

Mikoto Misaka (A Certain Scientific Railgun)

The poll celebrates the half century since the premiere of Japan's first major broadcast of anime with the airing of Mighty Atom (Astro Boy). Fans voted for their favorite heroines to create this finalist list. These 10 will then compete for the top honor in a live radio show on January 2.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web, ANN

Pumpkin's Palette: Penguin Bookmarks

Penguins from Mawaru Penguindrum, and the iconic apple.

I've had this in my "Project Box" for a while now, so I thought it would be good to finish it off while waiting for something to download.

Rock Band Porno Graffitti Performs Opening for Magi Anime

The official website for the Japanese band Porno Graffitti announced on Friday that the band is contributing "Matataku Hoshi no Shita de" (Beneath the Twinkling Stars), its first single of 2013, as an opening theme song for the Magi television anime series.

The song will debut in the anime on January 6, and it will go on sale on March 6. It will be the 37th single from the band.

Source: ANN

Square Enix to release yet another version of Final Fantasy IV

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Final Fantasy series, Square Enix is porting the Nintendo DS version of Final Fantasy IV to iOS on December 20. The game will also be available on Android in the spring of 2013.

While it’s not particularly obvious from the screenshots released so far, the graphics and sound quality are going to be improved for this port so as to take advantage of the superior hardware available in the 6 years since this version of the game was originally released for the DS.

Naturally, the game will also keep the voice-acting that was present in the DS remake, although there’s no word on whether Square-Enix will allow players to switch between the English and Japanese voice tracks (highly unlikely considering their track record so far, with the exception of Final Fantasy III on the PSP).

The most significant change, besides the obvious switch to touchscreen controls, is the ability to change the difficulty level, intended to allow even beginners to enjoy the game.

Also, to commemorate the release of the iOS version of Final Fantasy IV, there will be a limited-time-only discount on the previously-released iOS Final Fantasy games starting on December 14.

Final Fantasy IV is scheduled to be released internationally on the iTunes app store. In Japan it will go for 1,800 yen.

Source: SGCafe