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.
    • Miscellaneous / Random Musings

    Random Musings – The Current Situation

    As you’ve probably noticed, this site has been hit pretty hard with traffic last and this week – more than it’s ever been. Since the new year started, the numbers have been rising steadily, and this Thursday alone got about 24,000 visits, 145,000 page loads, and 2.4 million hits. The main problems right now are resource/CPU usage and maximum connections per period of time – the latter is the reason the site is giving all those “Service Temporarily Unavailable” messages. I, along with our friendly network administrator Maestro, have been considering moving us to a dedicated solution, but this would cost a lot more per month than either of us can afford.

    The two obvious ways to generate the money needed to keep this site running are ads and donations. If we were to run ads, most likely you’d find them on the sidebar and maybe right above the comments box. If we were to ask for donations, it would have to be a monthly thing. I’m not quite sure yet what the target would be, but a safe estimate would be about $150 per month. Running ads might be the most surefire way of getting to that amount, but I hate to do it because it goes against everything I stand for – you may have noticed that there have never been any ads on this site for the year and a half that it’s been up. That being said, I’m also uncomfortable running a monthly donation drive because it would mean that you the readers would have to pay out of your own pockets, and I’m afraid we might not always get that amount.

    Neither solution is particularly to my liking, but this site cannot stay as it currently is, so we’ll have to do something. All in all, I’m incredibly frustrated right now because I really don’t want to have to deal with any of this – I just want to blog.

    Comments/Suggestions/Solutions are always welcome, especially if you voted “Other” in the poll.

    Hana Yori Dango / Random Musings

    Random Musings – Hana Yori Dango Returns Edition

    There’s not much going on today (Happy New Years!) so I’d thought I’d write up a quick reminder that Hana Yori Dango 2 is premiering this Friday, January 5th, at 9PM JST with a two hour special. TBS is doing tons of promotional stuff in preparation for this second series, meaning that Matsumoto Jun, Inoue Mao, and the others have been appearing everywhere on TV. Many of the commercials and promos show that Tsukushi and Rui are going to New York where Tsukasa is, and they even did a live broadcast to TBS’s Ping Pong program while they were filming there earlier last month. Anyway, Hana Yori Dango 2 is set to be 15 episodes long and the theme song (heard in all of the commercials) is Arashi’s Love So Sweet. I am tentatively planning to blog it, but that all depends on how my own schedule works out.

    CODE GEASS / Gundam / Random Musings

    Random Musings – CODE GEASS Rumors and New OP/ED Preview

    Plenty of stuff to chew on in the past couple of days about CODE GEASS:

  • The official GEASS site/BIGLOBE streaming site is offering previews of the new OP and the new ED. They don’t show the actual animation sequence – only images from past episodes – but you do get to hear the new songs. The clip of Jinn’s new song didn’t really appeal to me, though SunSet Swish’s song was pretty good – reminds me a lot of CHEMISTRY’s singing. Note: You must be using Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher to view the streaming video.
    If you’re not able to see it for technical reasons, someone has uploaded the ED one onto DivX’s Stage6.
  • MOON PHASE’s diary has a rumor from a certain television station saying that GEASS will air for two cours (each cours = one 13-week period), take two cours off, and then come back for two more cours. If you’re confused, this means that it would air the two seasons that it is currently going through (Fall 2006 and Winter 2007), take two seasons break (Spring 2007 and Summer 2007), then come back for two more seasons starting Fall 2007 for a total of four. That entry also points out that with the rumor of a new Gundam series to be directed by Mizushima Seiji (who also directed Fullmetal Alchemist), the question is if the two Sunrise series will be going up against each other.
  • For anyone curious, the image at right (notice the position of Lelouch’s hand…) is from HobbyJAPAN. Click the image for the full spread that includes Suzaku and the Lancelot too.
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    Ayakashi Ayashi / Bleach / CODE GEASS / D.Gray-man / DEATH NOTE / Kanon / Miscellaneous / Negima!? / Pumpkin Scissors / Random Musings / Soukou no Strain

    Random Musings – The Big Winter Break II Edition

    Come this time of year, most anime series take a week or two break (last year was no different). To clear up any lingering schedule uncertainties that you may have, here is a table of what’s airing and what’s not for shows that I’m currently blogging.

    Series This Week (12/25 to 12/31) Next Week (1/1 to 1/7) Following Week (1/8 to 1/14)
    Pumpkin Scissors Episode 13 on Monday No Episode Episode 14 on Monday
    D.Gray-man Episode 13 on Tuesday No Episode Episode 14 on Tuesday
    DEATH NOTE Episode 12 on Tuesday No Episode Episode 13 on Tuesday
    Negima!? Episode 13 on Wednesday Episode 14 on Thursday Episode 15 on Wednesday
    Bleach No Episode Episode 109 on Thursday Episode 110 on Wednesday
    Soukou no Strain No Episode No Episode Episode 10 on Wednesday
    Kanon Episode 13 on Thursday Episode 14 on Thursday Episode 15 on Thursday
    CODE GEASS No Episode Episode 12 on Thursday Episode 13 on Thursday
    Ayakashi Ayashi No Episode Episode 13 on Saturday Episode 14 on Saturday

    Please make particular note that Negima!? and Bleach will be airing episodes on Thursday, January 4th. They are being preempted from their normal Wednesday spots on January 3rd by an Enka New Year’s Special and then the Japan vs. Mexico Boxing Grand Prix. Unfortunately, this means that that particular Thursday will be completely hellish for me since it’ll be four shows on one day (maybe even five if I end up watching Saint October). And on that note, you can probably expect the Winter 2007 Shows Preview to go up sometime later this week.

    Random Musings / Zero no Tsukaima

    Random Musings – Zero no Tsukaima 2nd Series Edition

    The big news story today is that Zero no Tsukaima is getting a second series. According to MOON PHASE, the general announcement came across several mediums, including the fourth DVD, the first volume of the manga, the tenth volume of the novel, and the latest insert for MF Bunko J. However, the details – including air-date – are still unclear. Since one of my complaints about the first anime was that it was too short, I’m very excited to hear this and am hoping that now we’ll get to see a lot more story with Siesta and Henrietta.

    (Images are courtesy of an uploader at ranobe.com)

    Ayakashi Ayashi / CODE GEASS / Miscellaneous / Random Musings

    Random Musings – Neo Romeo And Juliet Edition

    A few news items and updates – which you may or may not have already heard about – on this tenth day of December.

  • Neo Verona… A winged horse… An armored Juliet fighting with a sword… Well, this is a lot different from the Romeo and Juliet I remember reading years ago in junior high. For those of you who haven’t heard, GONZO is going to be animating a version of Shakespeare’s work and is calling it RomeoXJuliet. They still credit Shakespeare for the original story, but this really couldn’t be more different. GONZO’s version is about Romeo as the son of the oppressive Montague dictator and Juliet as the daughter in the Capulet family who rebels against them, all set in an aerial city. It would seem that they’re really only keeping the names and the basic star-crossed lovers concept the same. The reason I’m mentioning this now is because the official site now features a trailer for the show, and it really made me sit up and pay attention. I assume the tragic ending will still be kept intact, but that doesn’t mean that this won’t still be interesting to watch because of all the changes. RomeoXJuliet is set to air April of next year.
  • The official GEASS site and blog have announced that Jinn (of Blood+ OP4) fame will be handling the upcoming second OP and SunSet Swish (of Bleach ED6) fame will be performing the second ED. I’m a bit uncomfortable with Jinn because OP4 was my least favorite out of all the Blood+ songs, but I have high hopes for SunSet Swish.
  • The few of you who still watch Ayakashi Ayashi may have noticed that I didn’t blog yesterday’s episode (never mind last week). I’ve been fairly busy with finals and have an important one coming up Monday, so I decided to go ahead and do OtoBoku in the time I had to spare. Hopefully winter break will allow me some time to catch up.
  • AnimeBlogger needs Donations! Our network administrator Maestro has recently hit some hard times, so I’m once again asking for donations on his behalf to help keep these sites going. All donations would go directly towards our hosting bill, so there’s no danger of money being misused. Even a small bit will go a long way. More information can be found on Maestro’s own blog, which also explains alternate ways to donate if you don’t have a Paypal account through which to do so.
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    Miscellaneous / Random Musings

    Random Musings – Kannazuki no Miko Redux Edition

  • Some of you may be curious why I asked “Have You Seen Kannazuki no Miko?” in the poll. The reason is because of Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora, aka. KnM II. Well, it may not be quite a sequel, but there’s a lot of familiar characters – Chikane is now Kaon, Himeko is now Himiko, and Oogami Souma is now Oogami Jin. And that’s in addition to the new cast (seen in image above). I’m very curious to see if they can pull off as impressive a first episode as KnM had; I still can’t watch the end of that episode without breaking out laughing. It’s just a shame that KOTOKO isn’t doing the OP and ED (at least not the OP, which is being handled by CooRie), though being reminded of this series means that I’ve been listening to agony quite a bit in the past week. I’m looking forward to seeing another mecha/yuri series of KnM caliber, and the promo trailer is quite promising (also on YouTube). Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora is tentatively set to air Fridays at 13:30 on AT-X starting January 5th, 2007.
  • SHUFFLE! MEMORIES got air-times announced today. Looks like the first airings will be Sundays at 24:00 on Chiba TV starting January 7th, 2007. This probably means that it won’t be R-15 anymore. On the plus side, it’ll be good to hear the old cast at it again. I’m still not entirely sure if this is going to be worth watching, but we’ll see when the time comes.
  • And finally, I hate finals week. Well, technically it’s weeks (plural) for me, but that just makes it worse. In any case, certain updates this week might be later than usual. I can’t say more than that because I personally don’t know for sure how my schedule will turn out.
    • DEATH NOTE / Miscellaneous / Random Musings / Suzumiya Haruhi

    Random Musings – Nodame All-Stars Edition

    A few news items and updates – which you may or may not have already heard about – on this first day of December.

  • One of my friends has been watching the super-popular Nodame Cantabile drama and was so thrilled about it that he got me interested in the series. For those of you unfamiliar with Nodame Cantabile, it is a series about a guy who aspires to be a conductor and the free-spirited, piano-playing girl who attaches herself to him. I haven’t seen the drama yet, but I did pick up and read some six volumes of the manga, and I really enjoyed it. I’m planning to watch the drama once I get a chance sometime next month during winter break, but more exciting to me (for now) is the upcoming anime version. The reason is because of the strength of the cast and staff that were announced. They include Kawasumi Ayako voicing Nodame, Seki Tomokazu voicing Chiaki, and Noto Mamiko voicing Sakura. On top of that, it’s being animated by J.C.STAFF and directed by Kasai Kenichi (aka. the director of Honey and Clover). This being a music-oriented series, I’m most interested in hearing the quality of the classical pieces they include and how they use them in the show. And since I like the manga so much, this has quickly become my number one anticipated series for the winter 2007 season. The anime version of Nodame Cantabile will air Thursdays starting January 11th on Fuji TV’s Noitamina block.
  • Many of you who have seen the Death Note live-action movies have seen the actor who plays L, Matsuyama Ken’ichi. Well, Mainichi Shimbun reported yesterday that he will be voicing a role in the anime version of Death Note (as the Shinigami Jealous) and will be also getting a spin-off L movie set to be released in 2008. At the rate they’re going, Jealous should appear in the anime in a month or two.
  • I’ve got the song God Knows… from Suzumiya Haruhi stuck in my head again thanks to this video on YouTube of KURIKINTON FOX playing the song. It sounds really good to me, but I’ll also be the first to admit that I’m not that musically inclined.
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    Miscellaneous / Random Musings / Shinkai Makoto

    Random Musings – Five Centimeters Per Second Edition

    Have you ever seen something so pretty and so touching that it made you want to cry? I don’t usually label myself as the sentimental type, but the trailer for Byousoku 5 Centimeter (5 Centimeters Per Second) (mirror) evoked those emotions so easily. I think it’s a combination of the amazing art and a fantastic piano piece. A very similar piece (if not a different part of the same song) is also played in the teaser trailer, which is equally beautiful. I’ve got it playing in the background right now because it’s such a serene, almost sad song. If you haven’t yet seen these trailers, you must go download them right now.

    For those of you unfamiliar with this film, it is acclaimed director Shinkai Makoto‘s latest work that features three short stories titled Oukashou, Cosmonaut, and Byousoku 5 Centimeter. They all revolve around a boy named Toono Takaki (voiced by Mizuhashi Kenji) and take place from the early 1990s to the present day. The first and third stories, Oukashou and Byousoku 5 Centimeter, will have two different voice actresses (Kondou Yoshimi and Onoue Ayaka) playing the part of a girl named Shinohara Akari. It seems that Takaki and Akari got separated at the same time they graduated from elementary school, and the Oukashou part is about his reunion with her. The second story Cosmonaut is about Takaki after that reunion told from the point of view of a classmate named Sumita Kanae (voiced by Hanamura Satomi) who has feelings for him. The third and final Byousoku 5 Centimeter is the title work that depicts the wandering of their souls once they’ve grown up. The movie’s theme song is going to be Yamazaki Masayoshi‘s One more time, One more chance from his 1997 single by the same name (Watch a live version on Youtube).

    Byousoku 5 Centimeter, which has a running time of approximately an hour, will premiere in early spring of next year at the Shibuya Cinema Rise.