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

The World God Only Knows Anime Gets 3rd Season & Spinoff OVA

2013's combined 2nd/3rd issue of Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine is announcing on Wednesday that production on a third anime season of The World God Only Knows (Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai) has been green-lit. Production on a spinoff original video anime about the idol character Kanon has also been green-lit. Both projects are inspired by Tamiki Wakaki's The World God Only Knows manga series.

Source: ANN

Featured Wallpaper: Sword Art Online

Let me just say it's okay to cry (even manly tears) when you watch Sword Art Online. The story is just so heart wrenching; There's a variety of emotions portrayed in this anime: love, pain, determination, betrayal, friendship, unrequited love, kinship, and rivalry. Most people will flag their OTP (one true pairing) as KiritoXAsuna, and I fully support this couple too! They look so cute together.

Kudos to the artist who made this amazing wallpaper!

PSotD - 名前のない怪物

Title: 名前のない怪物 (Namae no nai Kaibutsu/The nameless monster)

Artist: Egoist (Supercell)
Year: 2012

Notes: ED for the anime Psycho Pass.
Okay, where to start. Firstly, I think Psycho Pass is one of the best animes that is airing this season. The story is pretty deep, excellent character designs (the mangaka of Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, Amano Akira was the designer), and I really like the world that the story is set in. It's a really captivating anime - I highly recommend it! Next, the OP and ED songs are amazing, they capture the mysteriousness of the whole plot/setup. Well, really, anything by Supercell is awesome. Give this song a listen.

DDL: here. 

And here is someone's amazing guitar cover!

Two Hatsune Miku Dancing Videos Fascinate Vocaloid Fans

MMD (MikuMikuDance) is not only tool to create dancing videos of Hatsune Miku and other vocaloid characters. Two new videos recently posted in the web have amazed vocaloid video watchers by their uniqueness and cuteness. The first video "Kami Miku Nekomimi Switch Odottemita" was created by Miro using paper collage technique. The creator made 2,000 paper Mikus and spent 7 months to create the video. The video has been viewed more than 140,000 times at Nico Nico Douga in only 6 days. The second video "Doll-type robot dances 'Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru'" was made by Rozen Zebet using a highly-realistic 60 cm dancing robot doll "Arisa" in Hatsune Miku costume. 

Which dancing Miku is your favorite?

"Kami Miku Nekomimi Switch Odottemita"

"Doll-type robot dances 'Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru'"

Source: cruchyroll

Karneval TV Anime's 1st Promo Streamed

Karneval, supposedly the next "big" fantasy, action and mystery anime in 2013. Let's hope the promotions aren't just all `talk' and the final product doesn't disappoint, like with Arcarna Famiglia, K or Magi.

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The official website for the television anime adaptation of Touya Mikanagi's Karneval manga added the first 36-second promotional video on Tuesday. Voice actors Hiro Shimono (Nai) and Hiroshi Kamiya (Gareki) narrate the video.

The website also updated with details about a February 10 "Opening Performance" event in Tokyo, as well as additional character profiles.

The original manga follows Nai, a naïve boy searching for someone important to him, with only an abandoned bracelet as a clue. He encounters the pickpocket Gareki when the two meet in a strange mansion. Soon they find themselves part of a setup, becoming wanted criminals by military security operatives. When all hope seems lost, the two are introduced to none other than the country's most powerful defense organization, "Circus."

Eiji Suganuma (Kodomo no Jikan, Mashiroiro Symphony - The color of lovers, Ninja Cadets, Sasameki Koto) is directing the series at Manglobe (Deadman Wonderland, Hayate the Combat Butler: Can't Take My Eyes Off You, Mashiroiro Symphony - The color of lovers, Ergo Proxy) and Touko Machida (THE IDOLM@STER, Lucky Star, Amnesia) is handling the scripts. Toshie Kawamura (Yes! Precure 5, Smile Precure!,Mashiroiro Symphony - The color of lovers) is serving as the character designer and chief animation director for the series.

The television series is scheduled to premiere this spring, and the manga's 10th volume shippped last month with an anime preview DVD.

Source: ANN

Square Enix Lists 5 Elements That Make a Final Fantasy Game

The Japanese game developer Square Enix held a conference in Tokyo last weekend to discuss its recent real-time tech demo Agni's Philosophy: Final Fantasy. During the conference, the creators of the tech demo presented a list of five elements that make a Final Fantasy game:

• Magic
• Summoning
• Gorgeous beauty
• Refinement
• Change and challenge

The creators did not go into detail on each of the components.

In a related story, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn director Naoki Yoshida recently discussed what he thought went wrong with the original Final Fantasy XIV massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG). Yoshida was not a staff member on the original game.

In an interview with Kotaku, Yoshida said that for the Final Fantasy XI MMORPG, Square Enix researched the EverQuest game for a year to discover why it was so popular and then created a game that was inspired by EverQuest but added elements that made the game distinctly a Final Fantasy game, such as story-driven content and cutscenes. For Final Fantasy XIV, however, Yoshida said that Square Enix tried to make a game that was different from Final Fantasy XI. Yoshida added that he thought the original creators of the game did not recognize the way that MMORPGs had evolved since Final Fantasy XI.

Yoshida added that "I think it would've been good if they tried seeing what happened if they turned World of Warcraft into Final Fantasy." He said that Square Enix should have similarly had its employees play World of Warcraft for a year for inspiration. Yoshida also said that he thought it was a mistake to release Final Fantasy XIV when it was, and he and his team will be sure not to release the revamp game before it is ready.

The Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn revamp game will host an alpha test this winter, and a beta test from late January to early February.

Source: ANN

Steins;Gate Film's 2-Minute Teaser Trailer Streamed

Japanese production company Kadokawa began streaming a 118-second teaser trailer for the Steins;Gate Fuka Ryōiki no Déjà vu film on Saturday. The sequel to the 2011 Steins;Gate television anime series will open next spring in at least 30 theaters across Japan.
Source: ANN

Dog Days Anime Gets 3rd Season

Dog Days manga artist Takuya Fujima reported from the "Special Promotion -Flonya Festival 2012-" event on Sunday that production on a third season of theDog Days anime has been green-lit.

The studio Seven Arcs (Asura Cryin', Sekirei, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha) animated the first two seasons that premiered in 2011 and 2012. In the story by Masaki Tsuzuki, Princess Millhiore (Yui Horie) of the Biscotti Republic decides to summon a brave warrior from an alternate world to defend her country from the neighboring fiefdom of Galette. The "brave warrior" turns out to be a boy named Shinku (Mamoru Miyano) from modern-day Japan.

[Via 0takomu]

Source: ANN

The picture says it all

PSotD - Dark Shame

Title: Dark Shame

Artist: Granrodeo
Year: 2012

Notes: OP for Code:Breaker.
Another catchy rock tune.
My favourite characters: Toki, Yuuki, Yukihina, Heike, Hitomi, Prince.

DDL: here.

Which anime fansub groups should I use?

A quick search for an anime title in your favourite anime download site will generally return with bundles of results from various fansub groups. One major dilemma is to decide which group should I choose?

Does it even matter which fansub group to use in the first place? I'm a very picky person, so yes. It bugs me so much when I find typos, grammatical errors and even translation errors in fansubbed anime. So for me, it is important that I choose the "best" available subs.

Because we don't speak 'cow'

What factors should one consider when looking for the 'best' available subs? For example,

• the quality of the translations - how accurate are they, do they troll the audience, have the scripts been proofread;
• the quality of the anime file - did they tamper with the colours, what type of encoding is used, the size of the anime file;
• the typesetting and presentation - do the fonts look nice, are the text aligned, is the timing correct;
• karaoke - do they bother translating the OP and EDs, do they adjust the translations once the music is officially released with lyrics.

To decide which fansub group to use, I usually do a quick check in anime forums for the highly recommended groups. Another method is to physically compare screenshots of the same anime that are subbed by different fansub groups. The following site has been created to help anime fans do exactly that. 

However, at the end of the day, all we want to do is just sit back, relax and enjoy our dose of animation. Don't forget, we need to be thankful to all fansub groups. After all, they are offering their time and sweat to us for free. So make sure you drop a 'thank you' on their websites for their hard work!

Louis Vuitton Designs Hatsune Miku's Costume for Opera

For THE END opera that will be held on December 1 and 2 at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media in Yamaguchi City, director Toshiki Okada and digital music artist Keiichirō Shibuya decided to collaborate with French fashion brand Louis Vuitton. Louis Vuitton artistic director Marc Jacobs is designing the outfits that Vocaloid idol character Hatsune Miku will wear onstage.

No humans will appear onstage during the opera, even to play the instruments. Instead, Vocaloids will take their place, taking over every aria and recitative. The "actors'" onstage images are designed by artist YKBX (also known as Masaki Yokobe), who is known for his video "amazarashi." Shohei Shigematsu, an architect and a partner of OMA New York, is designing the stage.

The clothes Hatsune Miku will wear are clothes based off of Mark Jacobs' spring/summer 2013 collection that were altered in order to fit the virtual singer's body type and unique style. As this is the very first time that outfits from Louis Vuitton will lack the label's signature monogram symbol, the outfits will instead be using a pattern similar to theLouis Vuitton's familiar diamond pattern. The purses have been altered from the standardLouis Vuitton bag into cubical and square shapes to accentuate to the geometric themes.

Tickets were available for pre-order for 3,000 yen (about US$37), but were sold out as of November 14.

Louis Vuitton also collaborated with modern artist Takashi Murakami on his Superflat Monogram and Superflat First Love anime.

Source: Natalie via 0takomu, ANN

Vocaloid x V-rock Collection

Earlier this year, around July, an album of Vocaloids covering popular Visual Kei songs, titled I LOVE Visualizm feat. Miku Hatsune, was released by Machigerita. The relationship between Vocaloids and Visual Kei music soon became a two-way relationship when an album of famous Visual Kei bands covering popular Vocaloid songs was released in September of the same year. This album is titled Vocaloid x V-rock Collection. You can try a sample of it here.

Let us know your thoughts about this album after you've sampled it. 

Overall, I enjoyed this album and I think the bands put in obvious effort to make the songs sound good. It's difficult to make a direct comparison of this adaptation to the original songs. The VK bands added some of their unique twists to the original songs which I thought was an interesting perspective. However, I still just as enjoy listening to the original versions sung by our beloved Vocaloids.

Pumpkin's Palette: Mayuri Shiina

Mayuri Shiina from Steins;Gate

A little project I attempted today. I need to find a hole puncher so I can turn it into a keychain.
(Disclaimer: I don't own the original chibi artwork design. This is my imitation.)

Pumpkin's Palette: Kise Ryouta

Kise Ryouta from Kuroko no Basuke.

Commissioned for Alexis Ng.

Time: 2 hours. 

The colour didn't come out too well, but I like the overall final product.

After learning how to use a drawing tablet, my control of lines using a pencil has improved.

Currently taking in fanart requests! 

Comment below or give a shout in the chat box of your desired character.

Don't Get Too Excited, But... First "Steins;Gate" Movie Promo!

The footage isn't too shockingly new, and the music is a bit familiar too, but hey, it's exciting just to get a first promo for Spring 2013's long promised Steins;Gate Fuka Ryoiki no déjà-vu.

Charms offered with ticket purchase starting this weekend...

Second set of charms, offered with purchase at New Year's

After a website launched, MAGES president Shikura Chiyomaru tweeted that the anime features an original story with a new conclusion to the time travel mystery. 

Storyboard artist Kanji Wakabayashi steps up to direct the feature, with Jukki Hanada returning to write. TV series directors Hiroshi Hamasaki and Takuya Sato are on board as chief directors.

Source: cruchyroll

PSotD - KINGS

Title: KINGS

Artist: angela
Year: 2012

Notes: OP for the anime K (or K-project).
One of my favourite opening songs from this seasons' animes. K got more exciting this week. We now know more about the bonds of the people in HOMRA. In particular, Tatsuka, the one murdered by the colourless king.  Ah Kaji Yuki (the seiyuu for Tasuka) has such a wonderful singing voice - he sang the ED this week.

DDL: here.