Anime review batch [v.P] - Karneval (ep 5), Devil Survivor 2 (ep 5), Yahari Seishun (ep 5), Valrave (ep 4)

Because I'm too lazy to write separate posts for each anime, I'll just briefly jot down my thoughts and feelings with regards to the anime that I watched last night and this morning.

Ep 5 of Maou-sama

Firstly, Karneval ep 5. Finally the story heats up, we get to see Yogi in full action with his awesome vine-whip-swords. He kinda gets his ass kicked by the bad guy though because he's too nice and doesn't want to kill the baddie in their fight 'cause the baddie is an important person to Gareki. We learn that although Gareki acts all tough and mighty, in truth he is really useless... he doesn't have any special weapons or powers to fight against the monsters he hates, and Yogi subtly teases Gareki about his lack of power by telling him to run away with Nai. In the anime more stress is put on the fact that the main goal is to defeat the Vulgra (sp?) monsters, at least in Gareki's viewpoint, and that in Nai's viewpoint is to find Karoku; I found that this clear ultimate goal was missing in the manga.

Secondly, Devil Survivor 2 ep 5. I'm glad that Ureu got more air time this week, and we saw some interaction of Ureu and Houtsuin when they were still children, and learnt that Houtsuin was a rich snob when he was a child. A big revelation that Houtsuin is the real bad guy of the story. He wants to create a world where the most powerful and intelligent person (aka himself) will be the ultimate ruler of the world, and so he has a cold personality where he is happy to eliminate anyone who is "worthless" and powerless. The battle BGM is really intense. What bugged me in this episode is that they never explained how certain characters (aka Hibiki) obtained yet another super duper powerful monster. Also, I expected Jungo's voice to be much deeper... but instead we get the voice of a very timid guy. Another thing I noticed was that the art appears to have "degraded" in this episode... lack of funds and time?? This kind of thing frequently happens in animes though.

This dude is called Jungo 

Drop of art quality 

Thirdly, Yahari Seishun ep 5. I hate rom coms. I don't even know why I'm watching this show. It's not great in my opinion, it's not exactly mind blowing, perhaps I'm only watching it because Eguchi is voicing the main male lead. However, it does leave some space for you to think about what the meaning of your life is, why humans desire to create social bonds, or in some cases why we choose to sever certain friendships, what exactly does it mean to be a family, what kind of sacrifices do we make for the sake of family? Anyhow, we get a new ED song and sequence, and the highlight of episode 5:

Fourthly, Valvrave ep 4. There's so many twists and turns in the storyline. I don't know who's meant to be the good guy or bad guy any more.

My hottie. Hands off!

When I see bishies...

They're mine!! So HANDS OFF!
But being the generous person that I am, I shall allow you to have a peek at them too.
Presenting the boys from Ao no Exorcist - megane style.

Click for larger image.

Uta no Prince sama Maji Love 2000% - Episode 5 [v.P]

So this time round I didn't take too many screencaps because I wasn't too hyped about this episode, after all it's Ittoki's route and Ittoki is my second least favourite character, the last place belonging to Cecil. But the highlights being:

*Kira Kira* (aka sparkle sparkle) Otoya.

Wouldn't mind getting these Care Bears.

So it appears that the anime routes are going to follow the listing of the CD releases. This episode being the 3rd character release is the red-head-idiot Ittoki Otoya. Ack- Otoya's voice still bugs me, why is it so whiny and annoying? (lol)  

It feels like Season 2 is half about Cecil growing up to be a big boy in the entertainment industry. Ittoki and Cecil do a live variety show, Cecil is surprised that people enjoy his performance, then idiot Camus is like "Of course you'd be successful because I'm your teacher!"

Then stupid Haruka gets lost and accidentally bumps into Otoya who is visiting his old orphanage, and she learns that Otoya's mum died when he was young and he doesn't know who his dad is (... yet, until you play the game then you find out his dad is           ), and then the kids at the orphanage are like "Haruka's Ittoki's girlfriend" and Ittoki's all blushing idiotically not fully wanting to deny that claim. Now that I think about it IttokiXHaruka may be the perfect pairing because you have two airheads together (lol). 

I'm loving the variety of clothing the boys are wearing this season, in almost every scene they have a different set of clothes. 

It's so darn obvious that Ittoki's head over heels for Haruka. They go into the haunted house, she gets scared, he holds her hand and eventually hugs her *perfect* And then (RAGE) just as Otoya is about to confess to Haruka, guess who cblocks him. CECIL. Stuff you Cecil. Get The Fudge Out. No one wants you.

Eeeee Otoya's song is so... Otoya (lol) so cheerful and makes you feel good. I really like his song... except his whiny voice.

Special guest appearance - Care Bears! (lol). 

WHY IS CAMUS THE ONLY SENPAI THAT GETS AIR TIME!? (arghghghghgh) In fact, he got less than 1 minute air time. Pathetic. I want the other senpais too!! Anyway Ittoki's character is growing on me, the only thing I dislike is his whiny voice. 

Kurusu Syo's character single ranked 4th on first day of release

Kurusu Syo's (CV: Shimono Hiro) character single from Uta no Prince sama Maji Love 2000% was released today and has been ranked 4th in the Oricon CD ranking.
Congratulations my shouta prince!

[Drama CD] Counting sheep... and that's all you do

Having trouble sleeping? Just love to count sheep? Want to learn how to count to 400 sheep in Japanese? Want to listen to your favourite seiyuu count up to 200 sheep? Want to hear them get annoyed/sleepy while counting up to 200 sheep?

Well my friends this series of CDs 羊でおやすみシリーズ "Hitsuji de oyasumi series" is just the perfect thing for you!

You can download them here.

Info about the CD series found here (in Jap).

Have fun counting sheep with your favourite seiyuu!

GACKT needs your help!

GACKT THE BEST OF THE BEST Vol. 1 page on gackt.com is asking for our help!

GACKT wants to know which song fits different situations the best. Songs that rank highly may appear on the Best Album that is currently being recorded.

The form is all in Japanese, and each box is translated as follows:

1. A song to listen to when driving
2. A song to listen to when you have just broken up with your partner
3. A song to listen to when facing a new challenge
4. A song to always sing at karaoke
5. A song to listen to when you have just started dating
6. A song to listen to when you fall asleep
7. A song to listen to when feeling down and sad
8. A song to listen to when you want to be energetic
9. A song to listen to when you're feeling happy
10. A song to listen to together with your family
11. A song to listen to when you're tired
12. A song to listen to when you're stuck in a bad situation
13. A song to listen to when feeling lonely
14. A song that is difficult to sing
15. A song to listen to together with your lover

The form is HERE!

The first box is your name (nickname is okay)
The second box is your DEARS membership number (if you aren't a member it is okay to leave this blank)
And then each song selection has two boxes - the smaller box is for the song title and the bigger box is for your reason.
The only mandatory box is your name, so you can complete the form without any reasons and leave spaces blank, if you want.

Deadline is 30 April 2013, 12pm (Japan time)

My dilemma: 15!! Only 15 songs!!?

Source - GACKT Official site

Pumpkin's Palette: Kaji Yuuki

梶 裕貴 (Kaji Yuuki) is one of my favourite male seiyuus. He has voiced characters such as Haruyuki (the fat guy from Accel World), Ouma Shu from Guilty Crown, Yokodera from HentaiNeko (currently airing), Totsuka Tatara from K, Alibaba from Magi, Eren from Shingeki no Kyojin (currently airing) and Satoru from Shin Sekai Yori, just to name a few. 

I absolutely love his voice and the songs he sings!

I think overall this took me slightly less than 4 hours. Pretty happy with this work.
I struggled so much with his right hand. 

The WIP version.

KyoAni announces new swimming anime 'Free!' to air in July 2013

My friends, today is an excellent day. Not only was the preview for Ren's song released (it's so tasty), but KyoAni just made (one of) my dreams come true!

Yes, that's right, remember that sexy PV about four young pretty boys taking their shirts off and showing off their hot bods participating in the school swimming team? KyoAni just announced that it is officially an anime and it will be airing in July 2013! The anime is called Free! It is based on Kouji Ouji's High Speed!, an honorable mention recipient in the 2nd Kyoto Animation Award in 2011. Hiroko Utsumi of Animation DO is directing the anime, and Masahiro Yokotani is supervising the scripts. Futoshi Nishiya is designing the characters, and Tatsuya Katou is composing the music.

The main cast is as follows:

Shimazaki Nobunaga as Nanase Haruka,
Suzuki Tatsuhisa as Tachibana Makoto, Haruka’s childhood friend,
Yonaga Tsubasa as Hazuki Nagisa, the freshman,
Hirakawa Daisuke as Ryugazaki Rei,
Miyano Mamoru as Matsuoka Rin the rival!

Watch the promo video as well!

Edit: Offical website here.

[Lyrics] THANK YOU - Miyano Mamoru English translated lyrics

When I first heard this song Thank you, the second song from Mamo's latest single Kanon, I thought "wow the chorus sounds like Rebecca Black's Friday", but then upon second hearing I fell in love with this song because the lyrics are so beautiful. I'll try to translate the lyrics below. The kanji lyrics are adapted from here. You can listen to the song here.

THANK YOU by Miyano Mamoru (宮野真守) English translation

Although we're so close together,

There's things which I haven't told you about,

"Just tell me how to get straightforward".

“I found my soul a best friend”.

When you place your hand on my chest,

Your face is the first thing that floats to my mind.
“Well just you and you and you”.

But it feels awkward,

Because there's still words I haven't spoken to you.

Again and again thank you.
I say these words to you, the one who found me,

"I'm glad I met you".
If I can say these words through a song, thank you.
For being able to spend each day laughing with you, my dear,

I say thank you.

Thank you, thank you, lemme say I thank you.
Thank you, thank you, now and forever.
Thank you, thank you, lemme say I thank you.
Thank you, thank you, thanks*(1), I thank you.

This isn't just a mere (good) matter,

But an overwhelming feeling of love.

Because I have met you,

So I do not feel discouraged anymore.

“I found my soul a best friend”

In this manner I'll honestly convey these feelings to you.

“Well just you and you and you”

I'm still a little embarrassed,

But I'll give it my best (shot) today.

Again and again thank you.
I say these words to you, the one who found me,

"I'm glad I met you".
If I can say these words through a song, thank you.
For being able to spend each day laughing with you, my dear,

I say thank you.

Thank you, thank you, lemme say I thank you.
Thank you, thank you, now and forever.
Thank you, thank you, lemme say I thank you.
Thank you, thank you, thanks, I thank you.

Although seasons change,

I'll still keep on reaching out for you.

“Well just you and you and you”.

Because I want to see your smiling face,

I'll keep running to you again.

Again and again thank you.
I say these words to you, the one who found me,

"I'm glad I met you".
If I can say these words through a song, thank you.
For being able to spend each day laughing with you, my dear,

I say thank you.

Thank you, thank you, lemme say I thank you.
Thank you, thank you, now and forever.
Thank you, thank you, lemme say I thank you.
Thank you, thank you, thanks, I thank you.

Thank you, thank you, lemme say I thank you.
Thank you, thank you, now and forever.
Thank you, thank you, lemme say I thank you.
Thank you, thank you, thanks, I thank you.

Note: (1) The term is "よろしくね", which is what you would say after someone does something for you.

Uta no Prince sama Maji Love 2000% single ranked 3rd

The new UtaPri single, Uta no Prince sama Maji Love 2000%, was released this week and has been ranked 3rd on this week's Oricon's ranking chart.
Congratulations my princes!

Taken from Suwabe's twitter: Ren's shirt merchandise and the new CD.

Uta no Prince sama Maji Love 2000% - Episode 4 [v.P]

If I had to use two pictures to summarize UtP ep 4, it would be:

Oh and something for jokes: You'll have to speak louder because this episode just caused more ovaries to explode.

Pumpkin's Palette: Mikasa - Shingeki no Kyojin

Right... I said I was going to attempt to sketch the background as well... forget that.
Scene is taken from Episode 2 of Shingeki no Kyojin. Character is Mikasa, the girl who has an 8-pack. She's so manly.

Just realised the left eye angle isn't right... grrrr

Original Screencap

JMusic update: angela's new album ZERO + download link

Not entirely related pic. K <-> angela sings songs for this anime?

I didn't even know angela was releasing an album today until I saw an update on my music source websites.

angela is a 2-wo/man Jpop band. I discovered this band through the anime K. They provided about 4 songs to the anime. They are also providing the ending song to the currently airing anime Kakumeiki Valvrave. I like this band's lead singer's (atsuko) strong powerful female voice. I think her voice is on par with other strong female singers such as Faylan and May'n. 

This album was very energetic and I liked all of the songs on this album. Try it out here.

Pumpkin's Palette: Miyuki - Red Data Girl

I may be naive in my thinking, but as part of my plan to improve my artistic skills, I decided to start a new project which I call "Screenshot it". As the name suggests, what I plan to do is pick a screenshot (at random) and do my best to imitate that scene, whether it be characters, buildings or backgrounds, with my pencil, eraser and paper.

This is my first drawing from that project. It's a scene from episode 3 of Red Data Girl, the character is Miyuki. Also, one lesson, when shading make sure to place a clean sheet of paper between your hand and the drawing, otherwise there will be smudges everywhere on your drawing.

My imitation 

Original screencap

Brothers Conflict Anime's Lead Actress, Song, Visual Revealed

Geneon revealed the lead voice actress, ending theme song, key visual, and logo for this July's Brothers Conflict anime series on Monday. Rina Satou will play the show's female protagonist, Ema. Sylph magazine's original romance novel project centers around a girl who suddenly gains 13 stepbrothers — from 32 years old down to 12 years old — when her father remarries. She joins the Asahina family under one roof at the Sunrise Residence complex.

The ending theme song, entitled "14 to 1," will be sung by 14 of the male cast members, with Kazuyuki Okitsu as Masaomi, Daisuke Hirakawa as Ukyō, Junichi Suwabe as Kaname, Nobuhiko Okamoto as Hikaru, Kenichi Suzumura as Tsubaki, Kousuke Toriumi as Azusa, Tomoaki Maeno as Natsume, Ken Takeuchi as Louis, Daisuke Ono as Subaru, Daisuke Namikawa as Iori, Yoshimasa Hosoya as Yūsuke, Kenn as Fūto, Yuuki Kaji as Wataru, and Hiroshi Kamiya as Juli, the main character's pet. The anime's official website already announced that the opening theme song "BELOVED×SURVIVAL" will be performed by Gero.

The official name of the 14-singer group performing the ending theme will be announced during a public recording of the web radio program Sanrajio Rejidensu (Sun Radio Residence) on April 28.

Jun Matsumoto is directing the anime at the studio Brains Base. Natsuko Takahashi is in charge of scripts, and Kumi Ishii is adapting the characters in Udajo's original illustrations for animation.

Source: ANN

Karneval - Episode 3 [v.P]

When you get to the climax of the episode (jokes)

This is more like a rant and lists of screenshots rather than a review. I would probably call these "anime review" posts as BSS: Blargh and Screenshots. By Blargh I mean just random thoughts that pop into my head as I watch an episode. But enough of my rambles, and let's move on to the promised "blargh" - Episode 3 of Karneval.

Yogi gets flung out the door.

UtaPri Maji Love 2000% ED song + Bakuman OST 3 + Psycho Pass OST 2 downloads

1. Some kind hearted soul uploaded the latest UtaPri single. It features the ED song of the currently airing anime. *cue pumpkin's fangirl scream* Download here. The second song is so pretty. *sparkles*
2. Psycho Pass OST 2 download here. It's as awesome as the first OST.
3. Bakuman OST 3 download here. One of the best written anime/manga. It's a must watch!

Jun Fukuyama's 4th album teaser video revealed

Jun Fukuyama, a famous seiyuu, is releasing his 4th album, "Love Letters 3 ~Matsuri No Kuni De~" on 22nd May 2013. The production company Flying Dog posted a teaser video of 『目隠しの真実』(Blindfolded Truth) which will be included as a bonus DVD with the limited edition of the album.
This promo song isn't as impactful as I would have liked.

Aoi Shouta to release new mini-album in June

Aoi Shouta announced on his blog this morning that he will be releasing a mini-album on 26th June 2013, titled Blue Heart. Aoi is a lesser known and fairly new seiyuu who has voiced characters such as Ai from UtaPri and Ryunosuke from Kimi to Boku. His voice is rather unique and sounds feminine (very beautiful), and not to mention he looks rather feminine as well, much like the singer Piko.

PSotD - 偏愛の輪舞曲 (Henai no Rondo)

Title: 偏愛の輪舞曲 (Henai no Rondo)

Artist: GRANRODEO
Year: 2013

Notes: Fresh off the stove, the OP of the anime Karneval was released on Wednesday the 17th. Another amazing song by GRANRODEO. Review of the Karneval episodes will be coming soon (after I get out of work and once it's subbed). I'll just say that after reading 50 or so chapters of the manga I still had no idea what the plot is about. I'm only watching the anime because of the seiyuus, bishies (fanservice), and the art is really beautiful.
I think the second and third songs in this single are better than their main song.

DDL: here

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge - Episode 3 [v.P]

Recap Ep 1: 

This anime is about a boy with hair cutting fetishes and a girl whose hair cannot be cut, and their fateful encounter. (Or so it seemed).

Recap Ep 2: 

We learnt that the girl, named Iwai, is the offspring of the Queen of Hair (I know... it's lame), who left two curses when she died, first of all her offspring would have cursed hair that cannot be cut, and secondly there would be people who owned special tools, called 'killing goods', and these tools would 'possess' their owners, called 'Authors', and force them to murder people. The Queen promised that whoever first kills Iwai gets to have a wish granted, namely the removal of the 'killing goods' curse. The MC's (male), called Haimura, ancestors owned a set of killing goods, namely a pair of scissors and said ancestor was involved in a huge murder crime; now that the killing good is in Haimura's hands, he has the urge, or rather the scissors force him to have a cutting fetish. After Haimura learned that other Authors are out to kill Iwai he swore that he will be the Queen's (Iwai) knight and protect her.

Ep 3:

Uta no Prince sama Maji Love 2000% - Episode 3 Review [v.P]

Heya guys, we thought we would spice things up a bit on our blog, so I'll be posting (at random intervals) about the latest anime episodes that I've been watching. Note that I'll be writing about my personal views, opinions and speculations, of which I do not intend to offend or harm anyone, and I will be posting screenshots so there will be obvious spoilers, so don't say you're not warned.

To start this segment off, I shall review for you episode 3 of my favourite/biased anime UtaPri!

PSotD - 追憶 (Reminiscence)

Title: 追憶 (Reminiscence)

Artist: 大島ミチル (Oshima Michiru)
Year: 2013

Notes: Track 2 of the Zetsuen no Tempest OST. The Zetsuen OST is one of the most beautifully composed music I have encountered. I rank this OST within my top 10, with my list including the K OST, Ao no Exorcist OST, Code Geass OST and Guilty Crown OST. The orchestral arrangement brings a sweet yet mysterious taste.

Pixiv id: 34708709

DDL: here

The Playstation 4

The new console will be released during the holidays. The upcoming system will be an attempt to make a clean break from the PS3, though, many detail about the console remain unknown.  The console is said to be "Developer friendly". The PS4 will boast 8GB of unified GDDR5 RAM - a major jump forward from the combined 512MB in the PS3.

The memory increase should give developers more latitude in like graphics and physics. The PS4 will give gamers social tools that let them share and connect with their friends. The controller features a Share button that lets players post gameplay videos onto social networks. Players will also be able to live broadcast through UStream. Unfortunately the PS4 won't play PS3 games, but it's due to major differences between the core architectures of both consoles. The same can be said for PSN titles.

If you own a smartphone or tablet, these can be used as secondary screens via a Playstation app, whether for game augmentation or to purchase titles and download to your system at home. In general, downloading digital content will be easier thanks to the ability to download in the background, play a game before it's fully downloaded, and download games while the system is powered off.

As connection-focused as the PS4 is, it will not require an internet connection, though many of its standout features won't be available to offline players.


Playstation 4's Specs

Main Processor 

• Single-chip custom processor
• CPU: x86-64 AMD Jaguar, 8 cores
• GPU: AMD next-generation Radeon-based graphics engine, 1.84 TFLOPS

Memory

• 8 GB GDDR5

Hard Disk 

• Drive Built-in (capacity to be determined)

I/O

• USB 3.0
• AUX

Communication

• Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T)
• IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 (EDR)

AV Output

• HDMI
• Analog-AV out
• Digital Output (Optical)

The New Controller

1. Redefined analog sticks
2. Redesigned trigger buttons
3. Includes new Axis sensor
4. Light changing light bar - it identifies players and indicates status such as a character's health
5. Improved rumble
6. New options button - combined select and start button
7. Share button - used for broadcasting gameplay in real time
8. Features a stereo headphone jack and built in mono speakers

(Source: Game Informer)