I'll do it tomorrow

Every night

Every night it happens.

Seiyuu appreciation post: Nana Mizuki + T.M.Revolution

Photoshop level: 99999

Are you pro enough to have Asuna sitting on your shoulders?

Heatwave in Brisbane

Today was a scorcher, tomorrow will be even worse according to the weather predictor.

 Shimono Hiro sweating it out from the Punishment Game video from the UtaPri DVD/BD #7.
Make sure you stay out of the sun and drink plenty of water to cool down during the heatwave!

Vanquish Brothers

Lovely wallpaper of the boys from the Drama CD series, Vanquish Brothers.
Website: http://rejetweb.jp/vb/

Autumn Anime Season 2013 Review [v.P]

Having trouble deciding what animes from the Autumn (2013) season that you should watch?

I have split (the majority of) the animes into 7 categories. So follow through this post and ask yourself 7 questions to decide which ones you want to watch.
I've included a simple summary/description for each anime (some comments may include mild sarcasm); You can Google the titles for more details.
Note, the numbers in square brackets are my rating of the anime out of 10. I won't rate anything that I've dropped.

• Do you like sports animes?

If yes then I recommend:

• Ace of Diamond [6] - An anime based on baseball.
• Kuroko no Basket 2 [7] - A continuation of an anime based on basketball.
• Yowamushi Pedal [7] - An anime based on cycling.

• Do you like fanservice (for males)?

If yes then I recommend:

• Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio: Ars Nova/Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Ars Nova [8] - Battle ships turn into cute girls and they start firing torpedoes at each other.

• Coppelion [6.5] - A part of Japan suffered a radioactive disaster. A group of genetically modified teens/robots/dolls gets sent to the disaster zone to rescue all remaining humans. They encounter bad people who want to steal the radioactive waste and rebellion. Firearms/shooting involved.

• Kill la Kill (Dropped) - Something about clothes with personalities and can talk, and girls wearing these clothes.

• Walkure Romanze (Dropped) - Girls and Horses.

• Strike the Blood (Dropped) - Girls. Vampires. Super natural powers.

• White Album 2 (Dropped) - Girls. More girls.

• Outbreak Company [7] - An anime that parodies other animes. MC is an otaku and hikikomori that gets sent to alternate universe to promote Japanese culture. Highly recommended for hilarity and fan service reasons.

• Miss Monochrome [7] - A robot that desires to be an idol. This is a short 3 minute anime. Recommended for hilarity reasons.

• Machine-Doll wa Kizutsukanai/Unbreakable Machine-Doll [8] - Yaya. Need I say more? Set in a universe where there are machines called "dolls" that can come alive, act like humans and fight under the command of their masters called "puppeteers". A teen boy joins an academy aiming to be the best "puppeteer" so he can avenge his dead family. Highly recommended for pure Yaya love.

• Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love Come wo Zenryoku de Jyama Shiteiru (NouCome) [7] - Many times in life you are forced to choose, what if those options really suck and will make you look like a jerk? On the bright side because of your choices you get to hang around a group of girls ranging from flat to busty. Highly recommended for hilarity and fan service reasons.

• Nagi no Asukara [7.5] - A love pentagon relating people that live under water and people that live above water. The art is really pretty.

• Log Horizon [7] - Players of a MMORPG game suddenly get trapped in-game and their consciousness gets transferred into their playable characters. The set-up is similar to that of Sword Art Online. However, the plot development is different, LH focuses more on team play and building up the community, whereas SAO focused more on a single player (Kirito). The plus side of LH is you get to hang around this cute chibi ninja girl.

• Do you like fanservice (for females)?

If yes then I recommend:

• Diabolik Lovers [8 - rated high because I'm a sucker for reverse harems]- Main character is "forced" to live with six vampire brothers and their cunning vampire uncle. "Drama" (a lot of blood sucking) ensues. 

• Do you like flashy/colourful series with minimal/difficult to understand plot?

• Meganebu! [8] - A quirky anime about glasses and people obsessed with glasses. If you're a glasses wearer, you'll find yourself nodding in agreement with the issues they raise regarding glasses.

• Kyousou Giga [7] - A family lives in/meddles with 13 parallel universes. It's confusing. Don't try to understand what's going on. Just immerse yourself into the story and accept everything that's thrown at you.

• Galilei Donna [5] - Set in an alternate era where the most common transport is flying airships, the famous inventor Galileo Galilei left behind clues regarding an important invention. His descendants fight evil organization and authorities to discover such object. 

• Do you like (soppy) Shoujo love stories?

If yes then I recommend:

• Golden Time (Dropped at ep 11 after seeing that it's 24 eps in total) - Something about how a love-struck Girl A (with Boy A) eventually falls in love with Boy B, who is friends with Boy A, that turns out to be a ghost, that used to love Girl B who is now senpai and friend to Girl A.

• Gingitsune (Dropped) - Something about a girl who serves at a shrine that meets a Fox deity and some feelings develop. Consider it as the boring and not-so-pretty-art version of Kamisama Hajimemashita.

• Do you like action/battle-type/Shounen genre stories?

If yes then I recommend:

• BlazBlue: Alter Memory [6] - Set in an alternate universe where time looping is possible, good guys fight bad guys using super powers and fancy weapons.

• Kakumeiki Valvrave 2 [8] - Second installation of the tear-jerking and suspense filled story with fighting mecha machines.

• Pokemon: XY (On hold) - A young boy journeys across the land aiming to be the best pokemon trainer by fighting various opponents and kicking Team Rocket's buttocks.

• Samurai Flamenco [5] - An amateur male model/actor aims to become a super hero and fight crime by donning a costume and teaming up with a cop. It starts off very funny and realistic but then the anime turns sour when they start introducing aliens/sinister super natural beings into the plot.

• Tokyo Ravens [6] - A group of teenagers training at a school to fight demons using supernatural powers.

• Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta [7] - A group of teenagers running a city and try to fight demons using supernatural powers.

• Magi: The Kingdom of Magic 2 [6.5] - Second installation of action/fantasy story. Personally, I loved the manga, but I was sad that they turned the anime all "kiddy". I only watch for the sake of the seiyuus.

• Kyoukai no Kanata [4] - A group of teenagers fight demons and make friends using supernatural powers. If you like typical KyoAni art work (eg. Free!, Hyouka, K-On, Tamako Market) then this is the one to go for. The storyline and character development were typical and 'by-the-book'. On the bright side there's not much thinking involved to understand what's happening because the explanation hits you in one single episode (episode 10) and then all the puzzle pieces click into place. Ending was terrible.

• Do you like slice-of-life humour?

If yes then I recommend:

• Super Seisyun Brothers [7] - Two pairs of brothers and sisters talk about and making fun of their daily lives.

[Life] Building my Valvrave - Progress report: Night 1+2

Not so long ago, I bought Haruto's Valvrave kit. Two nights ago, I decided it was about time I started building it.
I'll log my VVV building progress.
Night 1: This took me one.whole.hour. Wow. There's so much detail to take care of.

Day 2: Why you can't breath when building a Valvrave. This (the green piece) is one of the numerous minuscule parts that you have to cut out from the mould (with scissors), then polish off (with sandpaper or a stanley knife - I use the latter) the plastic tubings so that it will fit nice and snug in the designated place (see picture 2).

Night 2: I completed the central body part and the right forearm. 

The instructions manual has a total of 7 pages, and as of tonight I have completed the first page. Building models takes a lot of concentration.

I'm going to call it a night and go play some Otome game on my PSP.

Gintama: The Final Chapter - Be Forever Yorozuya

I love Gintama. This was a very beautiful, sad and hilarious movie. My rating: 9/10!
There were many moments where I was crying and laughing at the same time.

 5 years later Okita becomes a full fledged bishie samurai!

 Another laugh and cry moment.

 The moment when you got trolled by the storyline.

 Gintoki had to pull a stupid face at the end of the movie.

Just throwing this picture of Tomozaku (voices Gintoki) that I saw on twitter right after watching the movie (I'm crying from laughter right now). He's a ridiculous yet talented man.

When mathematicians try to cook.

Today was too hot. I want to sleep.

Seiyuu appreciation post - Ta_2, OnoKenshou+Kishow

I was watching the KuroBasu Cup 2013.

Piyo Piyo Piyo Piyo Piyo Chan~

I found this yesterday and it is too funny. Gotta love Mamoru Miyano, along with the other Uta-Puri seiyuus.

Valvrave - Episode 24 [v.P]

Tissues. I need a whole box of them.
All my favourite characters dies. Everyone dies. Why do you do this to my poor weak heart Sunrise?

 First off, it was X-eins. He died in vain.

 I love this pair.

 Then Q-vier dies in his friend's hand.

 Sometimes you just need to face the truth.

 While Cain was a baddie, I still liked him.

 This scene totally broke my heart when Haruto used up all his runes and cannot remember anything at all.

 Well, good bye Haruto. Goodbye to all the Valvrave pilots.

 Marry me you two!

 Last bit of confusion: Who does this love-child belong to then?

Unbreakable Machine Dolls - Episode 12 [v.P]

One of the best harem animes I've watched. There needs to be a second season! There needs to be more Yaya!!!

How to combine split files in Linux

If you're a Linux user like me and are looking for simple methods to combine split files or split large files then look no further than lxsplit (http://lxsplit.sourceforge.net/).

Step 1: Open terminal
Step 2: Install lxsplit, i.e. type 'sudo apt-get install lxsplit'
Step 3: Type 'lxsplit -j filename.mp4.001'
And you're done!

Kuroko no Basuke - Episode 37 [v.P]

Almost a week late, and I've still got a huge backlog of anime to catch up on.

Anime Review - Coppelion

Synopsis: In 2016, a meltdown of a nuclear power plant creates a big catastrophe in Tokyo. 20 years later, the city has become a ghost town due to the high levels of radiation. From that area a distress signal is received. The Self Defense forces dispatch three girls from the special unit Coppelion to search for survivors. But why aren't they wearing any protection against radiation?
(Source: MU, edited)

Disappointing Story : 4
Coppelion started off as a good story. Post-nuclear disaster, no one can live there, and dolls, who have been created to withstand even the highest level of radiation, explore the broken city to rescue survivors. While I was watching, I expected to see these dolls, called Coppelion, to be emotionless artificial humans with unnatural powers going around and saving lives. Instead, this show features high school girls who have been ill-trained and are emotionally unstable. Sure, I do not mind if you cry due to frustration, or if someone close to you died, but after every single crisis, these girls burst into tears. This is so repetitive that it becomes irritating to watch them. This potentially wonderful story becomes nothing but a tear-fest with poor action scenes.

Cue the crying . . . now.

Wonderful Scenery But Terribly Drawn Characters : 7
This is an post-apocalyptic anime, so dull and simple colours for the background are to be expected. At the start of this anime, the scenery leads to a very promising horror and mysterious anime. Sadly, this is not the case and the backgrounds' effectiveness is diminished. 
The characters in Coppelion are terribly drawn. There is nothing unique about these characters; they all look the same. Yes, I know that people need to wear protective suits and the girls have their uniforms, but they shouldn't be a copy-and-paste of each other.

I love that background :D

Great Soundtrack : 8
The opening and ending songs by angela were terrific. The upbeat, fast-paced rhythm, along with her rapping made an excellent combination. Throughout the anime there was generally silence, which is understandable because the setting is a ghost town. In the action scenes, there is background music but it does nothing to add to the scene, and it is something I like to call "dead music". Be prepared: Coppelion has a lot of dead music.

Unmemorable Characters : 3
More like character. Ibara Naruse is pretty much the only character that is focused upon in this anime. She has almost no character development. Although she is the strong leader of her trio, she gets emotional and depressed very easily. Not to mention, she cries, a lot. And has a lot of pointless, "I want to save everyone and make sure everyone is happy" speeches. It is these types of optimistic characters that I truly dislike.

Everyone else is just there to take up space. The other two "main" girls have their tiny moments of fame, maybe three times in the overall show. These moments of fame do not really add to the story and seem completely unnecessary except to show the viewer that these characters exist. Different survivors are introduced in each episode and are almost never mentioned again. It is kind of disappointing because I was expecting at least a scene or two of these survivors and how they adapt to their new environment. 

Aoi Fukasaku's moment of fame. Why she can do this is
never explained, nor is it ever brought up again.

Watched for the Music and Backgrounds : 5
After the fourth episode, I really wanted to stop watching this anime. The terrible path of a promising story was a major disappointment for me, along with the weak characters. The cycle of attempting to rescue survivors, then crying because it is too difficult, then crying because one person is sacrificed and finally laughter because everyone is just so happy to be alive was dreadfully annoying and too damn repetitive. I think after I realize how terrible this anime was, I continued watching simply for the opening and ending songs, as well as the scenery. Honestly, I paid more attention to the opening song and ending song than the actual anime.

Overall: Average (5)
I usually try not to bash on an anime series, but Coppelion deserved it. Even writing this review was painful because I wanted to rant about every little mistake. This show had so much potential at the beginning, and by the end, it was a disaster. Instead of watching Coppelion, I would recommend Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. It has a similar concept with a better storyline and characters, and the artwork is not that bad. 

He is just playing with a grenade. No big deal.

Remember, time waits for no one,
sana_salim

Seiyuu appreciation post: Ohsaka Ryota, Shimono Hiro + Sakurai Takahiro

From Shimono's blog

It's way too hot today.

[Life] Bushwalking + Dinner

Today I went to Mt. Glorious with many friends and we enjoyed ourselves with the beautiful weather, soothing scenery, amazing food and up-building association.
The original plan was to eat and then go bushwalking, but I swapped the bushwalking with frisbee playing.

Afterwards, I went to a family friend's place to have dinner and after dinner we dug out some treasures - photos of when we were young!

Can you spot some of the authors of this blog?

With this I bid thee good night!

Meganebu ended

Meganbu was one of the best animes of the season. I loved it so much.