Random Musings / Series Introduction

Random Musings – Tuesday Shows Over Drive

You remember that show called Over Drive that I briefly mentioned in my Spring 2007 Preview? I wasn’t very attracted to the cycling premise and didn’t think it would be any good. Well, I watched the first episode on a whim and was completely surprised at how un-sports-anime this show was. It was, for all intents and purposes, a show that seemed to be about a boy falling in love with a girl. The animation had its ups and downs, but there was a very quaint atmosphere with light music that I usually attribute to h-game adaptations or romance comedies. The cycling part of the anime didn’t play nearly as big a role as I would have thought. Now granted, I’m sure those sports parts will come out heavily later (note: I don’t plan on watching any more), but for this first episode, Over Drive gave off a completely different feeling.

As for the rest of what aired today, I got some time in during study breaks to watch some of the episodes that aired today. I say study breaks because I’m in the middle of my midterms right now (last one tomorrow), and I used up all my free time today to write up D.Gray-man and DEATH NOTE.
Sisters of Wellber: I had high hopes for this, but the episode turned out merely okay. Nothing really stood out for me, especially not the talking tank.
Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo: Surprisingly enough, I managed to get through the entire episode of Over Drive, but I couldn’t make it through 10 minutes of this. Jaalin’s writing up an entry about it though.
Claymore: This had plenty of blood and monsters, but like Wellber, the first episode was just okay. Mentar assures me that the story will get better fairly soon, and I trust him enough to keep watching a few more episodes.

Everything else I didn’t get a chance to see, but at the current moment, I’m leaning heavily towards just keeping D.Gray-man and DEATH NOTE as my two scheduled Tuesday shows.

Random Musings / Shakugan no Shana / Zero no Tsukaima

Random Musings – Shakugan no Shana II

Despite this horrible, horrible timing (I hate April Fool’s Day), it was announced today that Shakugan no Shana will be receiving a second series coming in the fall. The official site’s front page and the most recent diary entry both have this announcement, and it was backed up by the picture you see at right that someone uploaded on popular bbs 2ch. I think many of us had assumed that it would only be a matter of time until a second Shana series, and thankfully that turned out to be true. Now there are two Kugimiya Rie/Hino Satoshi series to look forward to (the other being the next Zero no Tsukaima series coming in July). And this was just when I had been thinking that Fall Season 2007 couldn’t get any better too…
CODE GEASS / Kanon / Miscellaneous / Random Musings

Random Musings – The Calm Before The Storm

I realize that most of my random musings entries these days aren’t really random musings, but rather news posts or quick thoughts on stuff. Regardless, I wrote this entry in one sitting off the top of my head, so consider this the first true “Random Musings” in a long time, and please forgive me if I ramble a little.

Here’s a question that’s been on my mind recently: Have CODE GEASS and Kanon set the bar too high? GEASS’s biggest strength is that it has fantastic writing with plot twists and turns one after another that keep you guessing on what’s going to happen. Kanon’s visuals and emotional impact meanwhile are what I consider a new standard for that type of show, or even for all anime. Between those two, Thursdays for the past half year have been pretty incredible. I’m sad really that they’ve ended, at least for now.

CODE GEASS / Random Musings

Random Musings – GEASS Episodes 24, 25 To Air In Summer

  • As the title says, the MBS GEASS site has a note announcing that episodes 24 and 25 won’t be airing until summer of this year. They don’t provide any further details, so we might be in for a long wait.
  • In the meantime, at least there’s the drama CD coming out on April 25th (cover seen at right). According to the official site, it will have three parts, the first of which – STAGE 0.515 – is more background on Lelouch and Suzaku. The other two sound like fun though, with STAGE 9.725 being about Shirley imagining things like Lelouch marrying Kallen, Rivalz, and Nunnally, and Suzaku proposing to Lelouch. STAGE 12.55 is about Suzaku visiting Lelouch’s room (where C.C. also is) the night before the decisive battle, and Lelouch confessing his love. The CD will also include a C.C. character song sung by Yukana.
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    CODE GEASS / Random Musings

    Random Musings – What CODE GEASS Would Look Like If It Were A Harem Anime

    My friend Patrik pointed me to this, and it was just too good to not talk about.


    I was really floored by the level of quality that this fan-made opening had, including its own h-game style logo and all sorts of flashy effects. It really made me think of what GEASS would be like if it were strictly a harem show. I can only imagine how long it took to make, so a huge kudos goes out to the creator(s). And in case you’re wondering, the song used is true my heart by Sakura Saori from the Nursery Rhyme game. It’s stuck in my head now…

    CODE GEASS / Miscellaneous / Random Musings

    Random Musings – CODE GEASS News Overload Edition

  • There was a crapton of CODE GEASS news and spoilers that came out today courtesy of upcoming issues of Newtype and Animage, both of which feature the show on their covers. As you can see on the right, one of the big stories is that Newtype gave an official announcement that CODE GEASS was getting a sequel. Admittedly this was something that most of us had already treated as a forgone conclusion ever since December, but it’s good finally to see it in print. I’m gonna stay away from talking about all the spoilers, but if you really want to know, you can read about them here (a big kudos goes out to poster Celiss Galvea). However, I will say that I was very intrigued by the fact that Show Spoiler ▼
  • In other news, I’m getting really excited about the Spring 2007 season. I’ve started to compile a list of upcoming anime, and several have already caught my eye – Darker than Black, RomeoXJuliet, Shakugan no ShanaKaze no Stigma, Hitohira, Idolmaster XENOGLOSSIA, and the list goes on… There are also things like KOTOKO singing the opening to Hayate no Gotoku! and UVERworld singing the opening to Chikyuu he… that make me even more interested in those shows. In any case, the final list is going to be quite long, so please look forward to the full Spring 2007 preview, coming in a couple of weeks.
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    Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru / Pumpkin Scissors / Random Musings / Sousei no Aquarion

    Random Musings – OtoBoku and Aquarion OVA Edition

    A few quick things before I go to bed:

  • The big news of yesterday was that Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru was getting a second season according to Getchu. As excited as I was to hear this, I had my suspicions because I don’t consider Getchu to be a reliable source of news. Lo and behold, the site changed it’s news item a little earlier so that the second season part was no longer mentioned. It’s unclear at this point whether this was an incorrect report or if it was them jumping the gun and leaking something too early, so I wouldn’t get too excited yet in case this turns out not to be true.
  • Sousei no Aquarion’s OVA, Wings of Betrayal, has a website now and a release date of Friday, May 25th, 2007. The website features a promo that plays the original opening song by AKINO, but it’s noteworthy that the credits list her singing a new theme song called 「素足」 (Suashi – Barefoot).
  • For those of you following Pumpkin Scissors: I haven’t dropped the show, but recent circumstances have kept it at the bottom of my priority list in terms of catching up. I’ll try to get back up-to-date this weekend.
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    Ayakashi Ayashi / Fate/stay night / Random Musings

    Random Musings – 234 Days Since FSN Edition

    Two really quick things before I go to bed:

  • It’s hard to believe that it’s been 234 days since the final episode of Fate/stay night last year. That’s how long I’ve been waiting to hear Kimi to no Ashita, and now it’s finally been released on Tainaka Saichi‘s latest single. FSN certainly had it’s ups and downs, but this song brings back all the good memories, particularly of the ending. 234 days…time sure goes by fast.
  • The few of you who still watch Ayakashi Ayashi may have noticed that I haven’t blogged the show in a couple of weeks. I really just couldn’t motivate myself to continue watching because it didn’t interest me enough, so I’ve dropped it. My apologies to those of you who were still keeping up.
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    Miscellaneous / Random Musings

    Random Musings – The New Server And Supporting Random Curiosity

    Since it went up about 24 hours ago, the new server has been working very well and I’ve been very happy with the results. We should hopefully now be able to avoid the downtime and poor loading that plagued the previous two weeks, at least for a long time to come. I really want to thank Mentar for helping us get the server and Maestro for spending so much of his valuable time helping set everything up. It’s because of Maestro that everything got transferred over relatively smoothly, so I’m really grateful. I also want to thank my friend Patrik for providing a spot to host images temporarily while we were going through that period. For those of you curious, Mentar was the one who suggested and helped us get a dedicated server out of Germany that was significantly cheaper than the American solutions we were looking at earlier. It should be more than enough to allow this site to grow several times over.

    That brings me to the second point of this entry. Instead of the $150 dollars I originally cited, the new server will cost 49 euros (~$63.28) a month. I’m delighted that it’s less expensive than I thought it’d be, but that’s still a hefty amount per month. Taking into considerations all the comments that everyone left when I talked about costs last time, the most reliable course of action was to add ads to the site. While I would have preferred to avoid them, the reality is that not everyone who wants to help out necessarily has the ability to send in a donation. I know this won’t make everyone happy – that includes myself – but I hope those of you who hate ads can try to overlook them. For those of you who love the site and still want to make a donation, I am indeed still holding a donation drive to help cover the costs since I’m not entirely sure how well the ads will do and since every little bit helps. I agree with all the people who said that asking for donations every month is a bad thing, so the goal of this drive will be to cover six months worth of costs. That’s a fairly lofty goal that I’m not sure we’ll meet, but that’s why we have the ads for support too. If you would like to make a donation, please visit AnimeBlogger’s Donation page .

    I’d like to once again thank everyone who visits the site. It’s because of you, the reader, that this site has been able to grow so much. There’s a lot to look forward to in the coming months, especially in the spring and fall seasons, so I hope that you’ll stay tuned.

    First Impressions / Random Musings

    Random Musings – Tearing My Hair Out Edition

    I’m gonna keep this short because I have plenty of catching up to do:

  • I apologize for the downtime. Site was down for the past 30 hours because of something on Dreamhost’s end. There was virtually nothing I could do about it.
  • We have purchased a dedicated server (not Dreamhost) and are close to getting it up and running. Another update on this topic will be made fairly soon (within the next days).
  • Normal blogging resumes now.