Fatally Curious

Mail Order Dark Magical Girl!

2011-11-15T14:16:00.001-08:00

I got a package that came in from Japan today. Want to know what's inside - find out after the jump!

So what's inside? When I opened it up, it was empty...

Meanwhile...

(Pay no heed to the zerg rush at the bottom or the CLAMP chess board...)

Another typical day in AnimeGamer's display case...

Madoka: Ne~ Kyubey, something feels... weird today.

Kyubey: I think you are just imagining things Madoka.

Homura: Madoka has been turned into a Magical Girl. Mission Failed.

Homura Akemi, the dark-brooding, time travelling Magical Girl of Puella Magi Madoka Magica arrived in the mail today.

I fell in love with this Nendroid months back when the pre-orders came up. I mean, you don't see Magical Girls use a M9 Handgun, a RPG-7 Anti-tank Rocket Launcher, and crude homemade Pipe Bombs all that often. It's too bad they didn't make her Type 88 Heavy Machine Gun, but I'll take what I got. (BTW - her class in Battlefield 3 would SO be a Engineer.)

It's also awesome that she is included with a full additional set of hair in the braided form from the latter episodes of the series where she was initially a very sickly girl. It's too bad I didn't get to order Mami, Kyouko, and Sayaka.

Thanks again to AmiAmi, for getting Homura here in a mere 50 hours.

Homura hanging out in front of my computer/TV.

BlizzCon 2011 Con Report

2011-10-24T12:31:00.000-07:00

Sindragosa spices up the usual BlizzCon sign photo

All I will get around to saying is that a ton of things happened, and a lot of pictures were taken. How much? I took nearly four times more photos this year compared to last year. My time at this year's BlizzCon was absolutely amazing, and hopefully with this con-report, maybe it'll inspire some of you to (attempt to) go to BlizzCon 2012.

If you just want to see my big Photo Gallery (with less lacking photoshopping!) - the link is on the right bar or right here, for the lazy.

Anyway, more after the jump.

Found some NPCs fishing the Jacuzzi at the Wowhead Party

Day 0

I wonder who these two are...

Day 0 starts off like most other people's Day 0. Unless you arrived on Day -1 (technically Wednesday). The drive up to BlizzCon this year was actually pretty fun, considering in past years - after the first half-hour of the drive, my group tends to don headphones and just listen to whatever. Watching Wowcrendor videos and chatting up what your Ultimate Dynasty Warriors team would be somehow made a two-hour trip seem pretty short. To quickly wrap this part up to get to the Wowhead meetup - I quickly found out I still cannot eat Seafood (despite having Asian genes), it was awesome skipping the huge badge line (thank you friend who got hired to be a Blizzard GM), and dear god I love the Pirate Dinner Show.

The Wowhead/WoW Insider Party was pretty cool - though I felt like a fish out of water walking around. I arrived pretty late, so everyone already had their cliques going and it's hard to approach random people. I did take some cool photos, and eventually chatted up with last year's BlizzCon Costume Contest winner - Chrstina the Diablo 3 Monk. I ended up leaving the party with Pocket (and friends), and oddly enough as we were leaving, Ghostcrawler was coming in.

Before hitting the sack, ran into some cool peoples. :P

Tyrael in all his glory

Day 1

Note - not the entire group

There was so much going on Day 1. Obviously, the big announcements were pretty huge - getting to play cute Pandas who kick ass and drink all day will be fun to have in WoW, the SC2 Heart of the Swarm trailer is amazing (and the demo was just --- I wish I had more time to play it), and Diablo 3 right along, though I wish it could have shipped this year. Though, apparently WoW will also be introducing Pokemon into the game in the future. Not sure what to make of that.

The cosplay photoshoot was great - the group was huge! I didn't have a wide-angle lens to get everyone in a single shot. I wish I got there sooner, but my time at the Mists of Pandaria demo took me a bit past the start time of the photoshoot. By the way, the Mists of Pandaria demo was heck of a lot of fun - it seemed to be already very polished, and almost live-ready.

This year's BlizzCon Costume Contest Winner

The contests were awesome. I'll admit that I was a bit underwhelmed last year with the costumes - while there were some great cosplays last year, there were quite a few last year that weren't up to par in quality expected at a BlizzCon. This year, almost every cosplayer that walked on stage was absolutely amazing. There was only one or two where I wish they weren't in the Costume Contest - and only because I felt their slots could have been given to other cosplayers who spent more effort but got denied in getting into the contest this year. There were a number of costumes that I think got snubbed, but I guess that is bound to happen this year because there were so many quality costumes this year.

Fans celebrating SlayerMMA's win over IMMVP

Lastly, to end Day 1 - I have to say, I do watch StarCraft 2 match videos every so often. But the atmosphere and the excitement of being at the StarCraft 2 Global Starcraft League Grand Finals was just amazing. It seriously felt like I was at EVO - the way the audience was and the atmosphere was. I would've expected that type of atmosphere in Korea. I never would've thought it would happen here in the US - StarCraft 2 has really come a long way, hasn't it?

Samwise Didler is staring at your soul, while CEO Mike Mordahime looks on

Day 2

Four of the best WoWcinema voices in one locked room...

Day 2 was about visiting booths and trying out the Heart of the Swarm demo. Seriously, I already want to play Heart of the Swarm at home right now. Unfortunately, the HotS demo and the MoP demo were the only two I played - I never got around to playing the Blizzard DOTA demo - and I wasn't interested in playing Diablo 3 considering I'm already in the beta.

Rawr!

I know next year, I will probably do less panels. While it was nice watching some of the panels, I felt that perhaps it would've been better if I had spent more time playing demos then watching panels. Okay, maybe I'll just watch the live raid only next year. BTW - running into awesome voice people is well - awesome. I only hope my photos are good enough for them.

The Day 2 Cosplay Photoshoot was awesome. Why the female Barbarian who showed up didn't get into the Cosplay Contest just boggles me. It was unfortunate the entire Burlesque group didn't get their costumes done, but it was still a amazing and fun shoot. I think the Day 2 shoot is here to stay for sure.

Watching the StarCraft 2 BlizzCon Invitational finals was amazing. The atmosphere was like last night - and the match was crazy intense! The fighting game community has a word that fits the atmosphere of the SC2 finals matches perfectly - "Hype" - and that match definitely was Hype to the max.

Dave Grohl in all his epic glory

The Closing Concert was really fun. I happened to actually get really close up to the stage only a half-hour before L90ETC hit the stage, and got some amazing shots. I didn't think I'd stick around for Foo Fighters - but my spot was so good, and I happened to like Foo Fighters so much that I decided to stick around. It was unfortunate at that point for my DSLR camera to die and I accidentally left my back-up battery in the hotel room.

Come up with your own caption for this one

The only disappointment of the entire con was not even at the con. It was the Hilton shutting down the Anahiem Hilton Pool Party before it even started. I could tell walking around the over-crowded lobby (I'm amazed that the Fire Marshal didn't come in to kick people out) that there was a lot more sober people at the hotel then usual. Even Metzen, who is absolutely gone by the time midnight rolls around, was pretty much sober. I know for sure next year there will be a mass exodus from the Hilton - and that'll probably hurt them quite a bit.

All in all, it was a fun time - it was awesome meeting so many amazing people. I seriously hope to go to another amazing BlizzCon next year.

So SDCC con-reports... ya....

2011-10-24T00:46:00.000-07:00

Just making a quick post before I go put up my BlizzCon 2011 con-report that if it wasn't already been said in one of the previous posts on this blog - I'm just going to scrap doing a Day 3 and Day 4 con-report for Comic-Con 2011. It's just too far gone at this point, and honestly it'd be kinda pointless to post one months after the event.

Sorry, I'll try to do better in the future.

BlizzCon 2011 Unofficial Events List

2011-10-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

Something that I did last year before BlizzCon 2010 is a events list. This year, I'm deferring over to Kana over on the BlizzCon forums, since it's better to have just one list - though he is a bit slow updating sometimes.

Link is here:
http://us.battle.net/blizzcon/en/forum/topic/2913211405

I might also be carrying some new stuff for BlizzCon this year. Business Cards (finally, since so many people at conji, AX, and SDCC have been asking) - and maybe a new phone (to keep up with twitter. :P). I may also look into buying a new lens before the trip too. Lot of things I might look to do before the big event in two weeks. It'll definitely be fun for sure.

Hope to see some of you there!

Tadanon's Dance Medley Madness

2011-10-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

So I've been a fairly long time watcher of Japanese dancers in Japan (if you can call 1 year a long time). One of the more well known Japanese Nico Douga dancers, Tadanon, recently uploaded a video of himself doing a half-hour medley of the top 50 tagged dances on Nico Douga. So below is a list of all the songs in play order. I also dropped a little facts comment in the YouTube comments of this video, but I'll repost it here in case it becomes difficult to find.

50) Matryoshka,
49) Dream Fighter
48) Kanpeki gu~no ne
47) Princess Bride
45) Melancholic
45) Lily Lily Burning Night
44) Miku Miku Shite Ageru
42) GO MY WAY!
42) LOL-lots of laugh-
41) Only My Railgun
40) Breeze
39) Do-Dai
38) Hello/How are you
37) Sweet Magic
35) Sweetiex2
35) Heartcatch Paradise
34) Nostalogic
33) Soar
32) Motteke! Sailor Fuku
31) Be MYSELF
30) Hello, Planet
29) Nyan Cat
28) Bad Apple
27) Snow White Princess
26) Heart Beats
25) Double Lariat
24) Dokonokonokinoko
23) Ability to Stir the Audience
22) Megu Megu Fire Endless Night
21) Spring Shower
20) Love&Joy
19) Popipo
18) Maasara Blue Jeans
17) Strobo Nights
16) Kero9Destiny
15) Danjo
14) Caramelldansen
13) Renai Circulation
12) FirstKiss!
11) ZIGG-ZAGG
10) Teach me! The Magic of Lyric
09) Saikyo Pare Parade
08) Love Dokkyun
07) Seikon Hikou
06) Luka Luka Night Fever
05) Ochame Kinou
04) Yaranaika
03) Hare Hare Yukai
02) Cirno's Perfect Math Class
01) Happy Synthesizer

Tadanon's Misses (Dances that Tadanon did not know) - #44 Miku Miku Shite Ageru, #38 Hello/How Are You, #35 Sweetiex2

Tadanon's Partial Misses (Dances that Tadanon partially knew or he did not do correctly) - #45 Melancholic (he got confused on what version to do), #39 Do-Dai, #31 Be MYSELF, #30 Hello,Planet, #29 Nyanyanyanya! (AKA Nyan Cat), #16 Kero9Destiny

Total number of songs in the medley by Choreographer:

Kozue/DANCEROID - 5

Makoto, Yumiko - 3

Kyoufu&Kuu, Megumi Nakajima, 2D-CH@MPLE, Fine&Tsurutei, Okkun, Kyoto Animation, Kinako - 2

Melochin, Debisaku, Perfume, 13, Butsudankamen, Guriko, c-ute - 1

Not all the choreographers are mentioned, since some are hard to identify or the dance choreographer isn't known.

Mail Order Magical Girl!

2011-09-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

First off, I'm back! Computer came in a day or two ago and now I'm getting re-settled with my computer. Found out that my computer's motherboard crapped out, so it got replaced along with the liquid cooling fan it had. Gotta say, the computer is a heck of a lot quieter then it used to be before.

Anyway, something else arrived in the mail this morning... wonder what it is?

Miku: Hey! It's Madoka!

Madoka finally arrived at my house, and she came pretty quick (she shipped out August 29th in Japan, arrived in at my house here in USA on September 2nd.) Then again, she *is* a magical girl, and she's one of the most powerful to ever grace any Japanese anime.

Actually, she arrived so quick because I got EMS service for it, which gets the package shipped to the USA via airmail instead of by ship.

This is the first Nendoroid box I've seen that has a parts list included - and small visual instructions on how to attach Kyubey to Madoka's arm.

Oh, I did mention that Kyubey is here also, right? I'm sure some friends of mine will be wanting to chuck him out the window.

Anyway, I'm glad I bought this - she is the 3rd Nendoroid I've gotten this year, and the first off of internet pre-orders. Thanks to AmiAmi for the great service!

Madoka posing in front of my Computer Monitor/TV

I swear I don't have a thing for characters with twintails. Seriously.

I'll get around to posting those last two Comic-Con reports... eventually.

WHY U NU UPDATE?!?!?!?!

2011-08-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

No updates for awhile. Nice time for my computer to poop out after I finally had some time to finish writing up the comic con reports. Using a iPad to write this, which is cool to use but sucks to use typing. I'll finish up Day 3 when I can. I doubt I'll do a day 4 since nothing much happened that day anyway. Anyway, don't expect a update for awhile.

San Diego Comic-Con 2011 - Day 2

2011-07-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

It's Day 2 of Comic-Con, which means all the main action is heating up toward Day 3 Saturday, when all the major events go down. Again, because of interest of time (and tiredness) - there will not be much words, and mostly pictures.

One of the few pictures of the Valve gathering - before con security came and blew it up due to the gathering being a "Fire Hazard".

Just want to say, the whole "YOU ARE A FIRE HAZARD" thing that con security and the San Diego Fire Marshals are running all about is pretty silly. It would not surprise me if people eventually get cardboard and start making signs that say exactly that. SDCC attendees tend to be very good at that (See: Westboro Church @ 2010 SDCC)

Day 2 Friday Gallery

San Diego Comic-Con 2011 - Day 1

2011-07-22T07:34:00.000-07:00

Pre-registration line for SDCC 2012. Line stretched over a half-mile long.

Wow, I pooped out when I got home last night. Probably pushed myself a bit much, since I got up in the wee hours of the morning to jump in the pre-reg line for SDCC 2012. Anyway, I'll keep this post short yet again due to interest of time, so it'll be mostly pictures.

Sorry, had to toss this in here. This is me (on left) wearing Danny Choo's new Mirai jlist shirt, taking a picture with Chris Metzen - Senior VP of Story Development for Blizzard Entertainment (AKA he's the Grand Loremaster for World of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo.)

Food Trucks!

Me and Miku getting ready to down some steak tacos from Asian Persuasion (Twitter - @asianfoodtruck)

Suddenly, I ended up in a episode of American Chopper - featuring Paul Jr., Vinny, and Mikey... oh, and CliffyB. Supposedly Adam Sessler was there too.

Cirque de Soueli performance on one of the outer walls of PETCO Park - performance only being 5 minutes long, disappointing since many people waited an hour and a half for it to start.

Overall, Day 1 was pretty fun. I got some good sleep over night, compared to last night, so hopefully I won't poop out again too early so I can get Friday up to you guys ASAP once I get home.

Day 1 Photo Gallery here!

San Diego Comic-Con 2011 - Day 0

2011-07-20T23:13:00.000-07:00

Once again, Comic-Con has rolled into town. And I'm there once again taking photos, but this time I have a small traveling partner with me to explore the lines and halls that is the massive Comic-Con Exhibit Hall and other areas. Due to me wanting to get to sleep soon, I won't be typing all that much for today. So it's mass picspam instead.

Anyway, join me and Miku after the jump!

Miku is in shock...

... at the Hall H line, which started on Monday afternoon (2011.18.07). The panel they are waiting for is not til tomorrow morning.

One of the two lines to get into the Exhibit Hall

Complete with Goku cosplayer

Behind Miku is the setup by Nico Douga for their livestream back to Japan. Wonder if they noticed me taking this picture with Miku?

Wish I had gotten a more straight on shot - if you can get the QF code to work, more power to you!

Miku having a very Mami Tomoe moment.

Miku finds a twin!

Miku waving goodbye in the night.

See you tomorrow people!

Full picture gallery of Day 0 here - http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v374/AnimeGamer/Comic-Con%202011/Day%200%20-%20Wednesday/

Anime Expo 2011 - Day 4

2011-07-05T12:30:00.000-07:00

Last day of the con usually means deals and such - and not much action. Holding true to form, there wasn't much going on since it is a Monday (and a holiday), but it was still fun.

More post-jump!

Day started off late, as usual. Apparently I think someone at the DANCEROID competition lied about a signing for monday, because they didn't show up. Actually, from what I would find out later, it looks like they took the first flight out of LA after the dance competition. I have a feeling they didn't like being in America all that much.

Anyway, I didn't get a autograph from Maon Kurosaki or Kalafina - major shames. It was awesome though mentioning MOGRA to NIRGILIS, especially Yuki who regularly DJs there. The MOGRA Overseas Fanclub also now has a minor group photo, which is really cool.

I bought a new card game - "Tanto Cuore" - it'll be fun to try and play it with friends. Maybe I might bring it to for Day 3 Comic-Con 2011 for the Masquerade line.

Lastly, I got a ton of cosplay photos after the exhibit hall closed. Speaking of my photos, I will get around to uploading them all up online eventually. As of the writing of this post (midnight July 5th), I'm too tired to add pictures for right now and will be sleeping soon. When I get to uploading this post, I will probably start the long mass uploading process of my photos onto photobucket. Please look forward to it.

This is pretty much it. I'll just toss in another picture below this line - if I had taken a picture of you and you didn't make it into a blog post - do not take it personally. It's just I only have so much time and I have to quickly pick and choose pictures - and eventually I will come back and edit the blog reports to add in the appropriate photobucket links for each day. I'd also like to apologize for a good number of the pictures, as the camera settings weren't right and half my photos ended up being far too dark. So sorry! I will do better next time. >_< It's taking me extra time since I'm pulling pictures I put up on Twitter as well. So please be patient!

So long!

<- Day 3

Anime Expo 2011 - Day 3

2011-07-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, day 3 was amazing. I have never went to a convention where Sunday felt like a Thursday. Anyway, more behind the jump.

Day started off with bad news - Maon Kurosaki cancelled her morning autograph session. Was kinda sad but it allowed me to run off to the MegaTokyo panel. Jack totally hijacked the panel at the end, with his mortified dad putting his hand on his face. One of the longest running in-jokes on the MT forums is that I've always asked Dom to sign my MT vol 3 and 5 for the past 5-6 years. I finally caught up to Dom and he signed it, so now when I get home I have a forum signature to change.

After the panel, it was off to DannyChooXFAKKU's meet and greet. Was quite interesting and fun interacting with people there. Didnt stick around too long, as I hit up NIRGILIS's panel. It was fun being at their panel, and it was fun seeing their reaction to members of the MOGRA Overseas Fan Club being there. I went back to Danny Choo's meetup afterward and snapped a picture of both of us.

Went to Maon Kurosaki's concert afterward - absolutely fun, though the sound compared to Kalafina and NIRGILIS was complete trash (and they had issues too.) Was still a lot of fun, and I'm wearing one of her shirts now for Day 4.

After that, I had some lunch before going to the DANCEROID dance competition. Two friends of mine whom I met from Comic-Con and Anime Conji were participating in it, so I was cheering them on. At the last minute though, they changed one of the two allowed songs they can dance to another song (Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru, not choreographed by DANCEROID) and many dancers were upset. They allowed them to dance any of the three, using a 90 second cutoff time on Luka. My friends did alright, one was too nervous and one started crying after her performance. Anyway, it was cool seeing Kozue and Ikura, and it was fun seeing everyone's performance. Especially the winner - Matroska hoodie flip in the middle of the performance was pretty pro.

<- Day 2 Day 4 ->

Anime Expo 2011 - Day 2

2011-07-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

Day 2 seemed so short but so long. Yea, that is a contradictory statement but it is what it is.

I didn’t get to the convention until roughly 11am – and arrived to a food poisoning scare.

Roaming the convention exhibit hall – I ran into a few people, including Fred Gallagher, AKA Piro – the creator of MegaTokyo. After wishing that I could afford any of the $40 cospa shirts, I jumped into the Miku conference line and briefly waved hello to Danny Choo.

After the Miku panel, I got myself into the Maon Kurosaki panel. Her new song, “Scars” for the new Hellsing IX OAV (or was it X, or XI? /shrug) was really good. I also got an autograph signing ticket for 10am tomorrow morning. Which gave me double fits because it made me late for Kalafina and I planned on hitting the MT panel… at 10am.

Speaking of Kalafina – they were great. Loved hearing Magia live and in person. And Miku was well worth the $40 I spent on it. I’d go more into Miku but I won’t – you’ll be hearing about this concert for the next few months.

Tired out after Miku concert, and I’m typing this blog post on word on the car ride back to the hotel. If you want a bit more in-depth event-to-event info, you probably should follow me on twitter. :P

\

<- Day 1 Day 3 ->

Anime Expo 2011 - Day 1

2011-07-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

Anime Expo day 1 was really really fun – it was a amazingly good day. Despite not really going after pictures of cosplayers, I actually took a fair amount of pictures of them (but not as much as Conji or Comic-Con).

The major downers throughout the day is the lines, and how poorly organized they were. Making people line up outside and bake in the sun somewhat is not a good idea of a good time. And lining up on top of tape instead of being sandwiched between tape (ala comic-con) made things more complicated for line organizers.

The prices for food are also quite on the expensive side – will be looking to hit up Jack in the Box more.

Skipped the Kalafina and Sawashiro panels – since both had lines snaking around the corridors of the con. Miku keynote was very entertaining, despite the fact half the information talked about – hardcore vocaloid followers already knew. It’ll be interesting to see how mikubook.com pans out.

Highly disappointed to show up at the Kid Nemo booth and find out the Mirai Millennium shirt is $75. No matter what – I cannot justify to my wallet that any shirt is worth that much. I may pick up another Mirai shirt instead tomorrow.

NIRGILIS is amazing – Yuki-chan is <3. Glad that she looks to be 100% back after the accident she had a while back. Danny Choo’s panel was pretty interesting – I think it’d be easy for me to say that I’m really really entrenched in “The Comfort Zone”. Lastly, Kurosaki Maon’s performance tonight was absolutely amazing. She sounds great live in person as when I first heard her live at MOGRA almost a year ago.

That’s it for Day 1. Man, this is just Day 1…

<- Day 0 Day 2 ->

Anime Expo 2011 - Day 0

2011-07-01T00:18:00.000-07:00

Day 0 of Anime Expo has come and gone. Not much happening other then sharing as many germs with other people as possible when giving high fives in line.

More detail after the jump.

The line didn't even start moving until about 4:30pm - an hour and a half later then the stated start time. The badge line was a mess, and I hope they work on this more.

Once I got myself through the badge line, I pretty much beelined it to the concert ticket line. It was there that I found out there were 200 more Miku tickets at $40 a pop. Obviously, I bought one.

With what I set out to do today pretty much done, I took photos here and there. Some of them below.

Tomorrow should be fairly fun. Lots of cosplay, panels, and NIRGILIS and Danny Choo and Maon Kurosaki!

Day 1 ->

Anime Expo 2011

2011-06-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

Finally going to Anime Expo - it's been a long time coming and wishing. I don't plan on taking many cosplay photos (or much photos overall apparently, due to AX's strict camera policy during concerts.) Anyway, I plan to drop twitter messages throughout my time at AX as well as *maybe* doing some blogposts right here.

I plan to have fun at Anime Expo - and gosh darn it - that is exactly what I will do! :P

Anime Conji 2011

2011-03-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

As the right side bar of this blog says, I live in the San Diego, California area. And over the weekend, a up-and-coming anime convention called Anime Conji was held at the Town and Country hotel and resort in the Mission Valley area. I have taken roughly over 700 pictures over the weekend, which is a much higher volume of pictures that I was expecting to take entering the weekend - and it's going to take some amount of time to get them all up. For now though, you got this blog post to check out some early preview photos as well as my thoughts and opinions on the convention and those who attended. If you just want to see the gallery, the photobucket link is here.

Before I get started with the rest of this blog post - if you are one of the cosplayers in this blog post or in the my photobucket gallery - you are more then welcome to ask me to remove pictures from this post or the gallery, as well as ask for the original-sized photos (they're pretty big in resolution and file size, you have been warned!) if you want to do your own photoshop touch-ups. I'll get to talking about Photoshop later in this post - and why I posted even my own horrible mistake shots in the gallery.

Quick Edit - DO NOT EMAIL ME. I will most likely not see any emails you send to me since I get more spam then a military kitchen. Please PM me through cosplay.com or direct message on twitter.

Anime Conji History Lesson

Anime Conji was first founded last year as a Anime convention alternative to the much extremely bigger, more well-known and more expensive San Diego International Comic-Con. Obviously, this convention is a new fledging convention only in it's second year, but it's growing exponentially. (They doubled their attendance this year compared to their first year.) While the convention still was pretty much using meeting rooms and hotel rooms instead of a actual convention hall, as more people attend the convention (especially those who get hotel rooms) the more floor room the convention will eventually have. /end of history lesson.

Day 1 - It's Friday, Friday!

When I first arrived at the venue, I thought that Anime Conji was going to be held at the resort's Convention Hall. Apparently I was wrong. Very first two hours of this convention was spent in a line to get my pre-registered badge - and part of that was standing in the rain before they moved the line to a more dry spot. I'm sure this will be something that convention staff will address in the coming years.

I spend the first few hours of the convention hanging around the Le Chanticleer room where at first there weren't any cosplayers heading over to the room at all. Some eventually leaked over to the room from the line to the Mochi Maid Cafe, where I had some great shoots using the Victorian-type furniture in the room, and there were a ton of mirrors throughout the hotel.

I got some good photos of Rosegoddess (the Tifa shown above), some random shots including a cool photo shot with a message of encouragement to our friends in Japan (shown to the left of this paragraph), as well as a awesome photoshoot with a Utena pair. (Below)

The Utena shoot was fun to have, and it helps to have much more experienced photographers who know how to setup photo shoots directing the action for the most part. I'll be honest in my own assessment that I really really suck at doing photo shoots. Yes - this is despite having years of experience taking photos in the halls of Comic-Con and dealing with having as many as over 100+ cosplayers in a single group shot (and god those photos sucked.) By the way, most of the "photo shoots" I did have were more of spontaneous type things that typify my photos then having arranged time and place photo shoots the Pros use with their $1000+ photography equipment setups.

I roamed the con area more after the shoot and scoped out the dealer's hall/artist alley before coming back to chill in the Le Chanticleer room. If it wasn't obvious yet, I really had a lot of fun using the things in this room - and so did many of the other photographer pros who showed up. It wasn't the only place to get great shots, but it was probably the best place to get them.

When I got to the room, some Vocaloids showed up and the shoot with them really was a blast. Looking back on these photos now, I wish I really took more volume shots and adjusted my settings. I've found many flaws in my photography during this shoot which include:

Not adjusting flash settings to get better shots.
Relying too much on my camera's LCD screen to shoot instead of using my own eyes to aim my shots.
Not taking enough shots - AKA not volume shooting.

Regarding volume shooting real fast - this is something I really need to work on. I should have had triple the amount of photos I took overall this weekend and then upload the best shots I took of each cosplayer instead of what I'm going to be doing, which is uploading all my pictures - bad shots and all. Yes, it's being lazy a bit too, but it's also because I want those who are in these photos to be the ones themselves to decide whether the shot is good enough - it's their judgement call, not mine.

While talking to other photographers over the weekend, a number of them were extolling Photoshop - take your volume shots, choose the best and run them through photoshop to remove the minor imperfections of the shot (and maybe the cosplayer). I'm in the camp of not having the skill to do that, as well as being more having more natural shots and using camera tricks if it's called for.

Anyway, back from my little tangent, the Vocaloid cosplayers themselves were really having a ball with the shoot - and the room. The silly shots were as fun as the serious shots, and I'm glad that even if these photos were absolute crap, the cosplayers themselves had fun - and that's memories that can't be taken away by anyone. Not me, not 4chan's /cgl/, not cosplay.com, or whoever else says otherwise.

After the Vocaloid shoot, I took far more care on my shots then I did earlier in the day.

The shoot with this pair of Valkyria Chronicle cosplayers was fairly short for me, only because I'm very sure there are far better shots of these two from the other photographers who were there. I just wanted to post this picture honestly because this lady is really really pretty.

I slowed down far more in taking pictures as night was coming up. Not having enough light is always a issue for photos, but even more so for someone who has to rely on a DSLR's pop-up flash.

As you'll see in the later photos, it was REALLY fun getting some of the Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) cosplayers in the Le Chanticleer room, since the anime itself is themed from a Victorian-style setting.

The Tron cosplayer was awesome, and I need to work more on getting good shots with cosplayers that use the type of lighting that you see in not just Tron cosplays, but for other cosplays such as the ghosts in StarCraft. In any case, this picture is actually not bad if I bother myself to run photoshop to amp the brightness and drop the contrast without pixelating the picture.

Day 2 - Saturday Night Fever

Saturday, as at most weekend conventions, is the big day for the convention. That day is no exception, and it was fun meeting up with patachu (or chupata) again, who I regularly run into during Comic-Con. He wasn't technically dressed up as anyone, but his music playing skill is absolutely awesome. Hearing the Madoka opening theme on a piano live at a random anime con is absolute win.

This photoshoot with this group of Kuroshitsuji cosplayers was really fun - having characters who match the setting of the photo is really awesome to have. And while having the windows being brighted out - I rather have that since if I changed the camera settings to allow the camera to see through the windows would have only revealed the nearby Fashion Valley Mall.

The Kuroshitsuji gathering happened to be on that day too, and there was surprisingly a high amount of cosplayers from that series this weekend - which was great considering some of the great areas around the Town and Country Hotel and Resort were great with the cosplayers from this series.

Anyway, I realized looking at the time right now that I have spent too much time talking about Anime Conji and I should get around to posting all of my pictures. So now I'll just picspam a bit some of my favorite shots throughout the weekend.

Overall the weekend was really fun, despite how horrible of a photographer I am. I wish I can attend more events just so I can work on my photography skills more - particularly in photoshoot-type settings instead of the usual gathering-type settings. To all the cosplayers - you ALL are awesome. If I had left you out from this blog post but find your picture in the photobucket gallery - know that it wasn't because you had inferior costumes or anything, but because I just don't have more room to add more pictures to this post.

I hope to see you people at the San Diego International Comic-Con later this year!

Fatally Curious, returning shortly...

2011-03-14T02:09:00.000-07:00

Not much to really blogpost about, other then talking about Madoka (of which there are far too many other aniblogs to read for that), natural disasters (txt90999 people!), and the MegaTokyo Anime Grand Prix. I'll may post randomly between now and the end of the month, but I expect to at least post something new sometime close to the time Anime Conji rolls around - as I should be going this year for a longer duration. With my camera this time. If you just want to hear more from me, my twitterfeed is on the right. Don't be afraid to follow me.

2011 Winter Anime Season

2011-01-18T04:00:00.000-08:00

So just about over two weeks into the new year, and along with the new year is a new set of anime shows to come out in Japan. So I've decided in a very typical Anime Blogger way to give my early impressions on some of the new shows.

I won't get into continuing shows, not that there are many. Aside from the usual big shonen shows - Naruto and Bleach - the continuing shows from last season is Star Driver and the second season of To Aru Majitsu no Index (A Certain Magical Index). I'm sure there are others, but the none come to mind of the top of my head. Continuing shows that is starting up again this season are Kimi no Todoke and Mitsudome, both starting second seasons as well as yet another incarnation of PreCure called "Suite PreCure."

Anyway, my thoughts on thirteen of the seventeen new shows to come out this season are past the jump.

Before I get into the thick of it - I'll throw out the names of the four series that I didn't see and why I didn't watch it - in case anyone who actually does read Fatally Curious want to go check those series out:

Haiyoru! Nyaru-ani - The episodes are fairly short, this is much more a web series then a full on show. The first nine episodes are less then a half-hour.
Wolverine - I'm fairly wary of anime adaptations of US comics as much as I am wary of Hollywood film adaptations of anime series.
Cardfight!! Vanguard - Promotional anime trash that just seeks to promote a new card game from the creators of Yu-Gi-Oh! and Bushiroad.
Mai no Mahou to Katei no Hi - This comes out next month in Feburary. It actually has a interesting premise and I may pick this up when it airs.

Okay, now with that squared away, lets start!

Rio - Rainbow Gate

The premise is pretty straightforward: rich girl arrives at super luxurious casino island city with her rich grandfather who owns everything and she meets the title character, Rio, who ends up being her guardian in addition to her other duties. I actually had to take a 12 minute break in the middle of the episode because I couldn't take how badly clichéd and boring this show was. There were dips in the animation quality, and some of the actions of the characters in relation to the plot came out to be downright stupid. I mean, seriously, what young 8-10 year old girl checks out a woman's "three-sizes"? Theres times where suspension of belief is okay for a anime - but for this anime, doing that just makes me want to toss my keyboard out the window. Obvious series for me to drop.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica

This series is pretty much the series to actually watch initially - as it combines the visuals from Bakemonogatari and the wide-face character designs from Hidamari Sketch. Story-wise, it's a pretty typical Magical Girl show except that we actually haven't seen the title character actually get her powers yet - which is pretty unusual for the first episode of a Magical Girl show. Madoka is a pretty cute character, and her foil/nemesis (for now) Akemi is a deadpan Dark Magic Girl. With Shugo Chara off the air - it'll be interesting how this series fares as the only Magical Girl show in town and how unique Madoka will end up being compared to Sakura Kinomoto, Nanoha Takamachi, and Amu Hinamori. I'll probably be following this series fairly closely.

GoSick

GoSick is one of those series that either gets you interested by hooking you into it's mysteries, or it bores you because of back-and-forth verbal warring and long depositions. Pretty much, it's a hit or miss Mystery series. Sometimes, the best fanservice is to just have a European looking loli detective who smokes out of what looks to be a tobacco pipe. I'll probably give this another episode or two.

Infinite Stratos

The Mecha Musume theme continues to pick up in popularity as we get Infinite Stratos - which is about a 15 year old boy who is the only male in the world who can pilot the mechs in this series and his trials and tribulations in a school full of girls. I personally don't know if this is going to be as good as the big Mecha Musume series, Strike Witches, but I'll give this a few episodes before dropping or not.

Beelzebub

This series that has been featured in Shonen Jump is probably going to be a favorite of a good crowd of people - generally the people who are into animes such as Gintama and Katekyo Hitman Reborn! The premise of this series is that Tatsumi - a boy just entering as a first year in a high school for delinquents - gets stuck with taking care of a baby. Turns out this baby is next in line to be the next Demon King - and hilarity ensues. I may end up watching this due to my sister, who pretty much liked the first episode very much.

Freezing

Freezing is pretty much a mixture of My-HiME and Queens Blade. This series is not for anyone who cannot watch porn, as the assets of the girls in this series tends to hang out there. I hope this series ends up being more then the "chests" that it regularly shows on screen and has some twists and turns in the same way that My-HiME did. Otherwise, this series will just be fanservice trash - so I'll give this a few episodes.

Hourou Musuko

Also known as "Wandering Son" - this series is actually pretty interesting. It's all about a boy who can't help but cross-dress as a girl, who happens to like a girl who happens to like to cross-dress as a boy. It's actually a quite emotional and pretty deep. This series is probably going to be forgotten about or dropped by many people, but I personally think it's actually very interesting. I'll probably follow this series for the season.

Level E

Level E is one of those anime series where you have aliens integrating with normal Japanese life - in the same vein as Asobi ni Iku yo and Tenchi Muyo. It probably has one of the more interesting PV commericals I've seen in awhile but this series didn't engage me enough for me. There's nothing wrong with the premise, but I'm just not feeling the fact that we got to have the alien butting into the life of some random high schooler. I'll probably drop this series.

Dragon Crisis!

Looks like Rie Kugimiya is stuck again as a loli, this time as a loli that can turn into a dragon. Hey, at least it's not a tsundere loli. As if that's not enough, most of the first episode she spouts "Ryuji" - which makes probably most seiyuu fans remember the not so distant past with Toradora. Yukana is also on this project as Eriko - so the voice acting talent will probably warrant me to watch at least another two episodes.

Yumekui Merry

For a JC Staff production that is running concurrently with To Aru Majitsu no Index - this is surprisingly interesting. The premise of this series is that a guy who can see the aura of someone's upcoming dreams - and he has nightmares of cats that are after him because they want to make the jump from the dream world to reality. He stumbles (or rather, she falls) into a weird girl who doesn't know much about herself who wants to go from the real world to the dream world. This is a interesting series - worthy of giving it at least quite a number of episodes to feel it out.

Fractale

This series has a very Last Exile-like feel to it, with many scenes in the first episode being rolling green hills and such. The premise is pretty basic - boy lives by himself (for the most part), boy meets girl, boy and girl have fun times, girl leaves boy gift and disappears, boy ends up going after girl. I'm hoping this series keeps that Last Exile/Haibane Reimei feel to it and not end up being some crazy action series. Worth a couple episodes.

Kore wa Zombie desu ka

There always seems to be one crazy, zany anime series out there every season - and this one fits the bill. Poor guy randomly gets killed by a sword and is brought back as a zombie by a necromancer girl and now she lives in his house as a freeloader. Then comes across a Magical Girl who loses her powers to him when she tries to use magic on him - and now she ends up freeloading too. As with most animes like this series, it's best to shut off your brain and just laugh.

Onii-chan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!!

I must say, the darn title for this series is too darn long. In English, it means "I don't like you at all, big brother!!" Anyway, considering how many people are falling over to sub this series, I'll probably end up dropping this because the subbers will dry out. This series might be worth watching for the zany bro-con little sister. Poor guy doesn't ever get some time to himself in this show.

Not another Top Ten!

2011-01-08T00:55:00.000-08:00

Yeah yeah, so I'm doing a list of Ten Anime of 2010 that one should watch if they should so choose. Though, stuff like Hidamari Sketch, K-On!! and Trigun aren't on this list since they require having to watch previous seasons of stuff not in 2010. So ya... counting down after the jump.

I seriously wanted to make a Top Ten Anime of 2010, but realized that doing so would be folly. So instead I just listed 10 anime from the past year that you should probably watch if you haven't already.

10) Asobi ni Iku yo!

The Skinny:
Kio Kakazu is a young high school student who ends up taking in a alien girl named Elis. All sorts of things happen from there as the alien race makes itself known to the world, much to the chagrin of various underworld factions, including another alien race that has a deep hatred for Elis and her race.

Why you should and shoundn't watch it:
This series is actually quite funny and hilarious if you shut your brain off from the total inaccuracies of the plot and storyline.There are a ton of anime tropes in this series, and it makes fun of most of them - and tends to steal it's opening lines from various 1970 American syndicated action TV shows. Really, you should watch this for the absolutely adorable and awesome Assistdroids.

9) Koe de Oshigoto

The Skinny:
Kanna Aoyagi is a sixteen year old girl who decides to visit her older sister's place of work. Come to find out, she happens to work at a Eroge company (AKA they make anime porn games.) Hilarity ensues as her sister tries to get her to become a voice actress in one of their games.

Why you should and shouldn't watch it:
The premise alone is enough to make any guy watch it, and maybe make most girls not watch it. The anime itself though is completely PG-13 as there is no nudity or such at all. It's actually quite funny, and it's a shame that it's only one OAV to this point.

8) Tamayura

The Skinny:
A young girl named Fu Sawatari takes photos as a hobby, due to the influence of her deceased father. She uses her father's camera - which due to a special defect during the exposure on the film that causes the "Tamayura" or "children of the light" to appear on her photos.

Why you should and shouldn't watch it:
This anime has a very serene feel to it - and is very scenic heavy. As someone on the MegaTokyo forums called it - it's very heavy on the snapshot porn. The feel of this anime has very much the same feel you would get from watching ARIA the Animation. As with ARIA, the slow relaxed pace is not for those who like their anime to have more things going on or want some action.

7) Panty & Stocking with Garderbelt

The Skinny:
Panty & Stocking are angels who were kicked out of heaven and are now sent to fight crime... or whatever the heck Garderbelt decides he wants them to fight. Their goal is to get Heaven Coins from the ghosts they fight so that they may earn their way back into heaven. By the way, did I mention their weaponry are formed from their respective names?

Why you should and shouldn't watch it:
There's a ton of action every episode of this series, and much like anime like Excel Saga, FLCL, and the like - the storylines and plots of every episode seem to go totally random sometimes. As you can tell from the artstyle, GAINAX - the animation studio behind FLCL, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - decided to use a very Cartoon Network-ish style of animation for this series. So much so, Jhonen Vasquez (of Invader Zim fame) noted one of his characters getting new work in the series. The one negative that may shy people away though is that it uses a ton of tropes from not just anime, but from Cartoon Network-style cartoons as well (as well as the art) and for those who hate these type of shows, that can shoot the entire anime down for them.

6) Amagami SS

The Skinny:
A high school boy named Junichi Tachibana had his heart crushed two years ago on Christmas Eve, when the girl he asked out never showed up for their date. So he goes out to possibly hook up with one of six girls to change his loneliness during Chirstmas Eve.

Why you should and shouldn't watch it:
This is one of your proto-typical high school romance animes with a interesting twist. After four episodes, the series resets back to the beginning and starts off with a new girl - so each main girl in the series has four episodes to shine. Which also means each arc of four episodes can be hit and miss where you may end up angry at Junichi, the girl, or the storyline - or a combination of the three. It's still one of my favorite animes of the year, and includes one of the best characters of the year in Ai Nanasaki.

5) Angel Beats

The Skinny:
Guy named Yuzuru Otonashi suddenly wakes up in a schoolyard in the middle of night. Next to him is a girl with a sniper rifle aimed at a silver-haired girl. It is there she welcomes him to the afterlife - where it's a struggle to survive where one cannot die. Seems kinda ironic, doesn't it?

Why you should and shouldn't watch it:
In Key Visual Art's first anime project to not be associated with Toei Animation or Kyoto Animation - as well as their first Anime Original series - it has much of feel of Key's previous works in AIR, Kanon, and Clannad yet incorporating elements from other animes such as Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu and FLCL. However, it's because of the blend of these elements that at times the storyline tends to lose focus and becomes bland. One of best things in this anime though is the soundtrack, which includes the "Keep the Beats!" album from the fictional band Girls Dead Monster (or Girls DeMo).

4) Black Rock Shooter

The Skinny:
One day, a young girl suddenly disappears almost without a trace. It is up to her friend, Mato Kuroi, to find her by the sudden discovery that she is "Black Rock Shooter" - a silent girl who wields a cannon of a arm... literally. Along the way, she finds out why her friend disappears.

Why you should and shouldn't watch it:
This anime spawned out of the Miku Hatsune Vocaloid craze that has been happening for the past five years. The character Black Rock Shooter was formed first from a drawing (inspired from Miku Hatsune) that inspired a song using the Vocaloid software and became a instant hit in Japan. It proved so popular that the newly formed Studio Ordet (featuring the director and writer from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu) made it the studio's first anime production. If there's a negative - it's very unexplanatory and quiet and the school scenes seem to just end up being filler for the high paced action scenes.

3) Durarara!!

The Skinny:
Mikado Ryugamine is a young high schooler who moved to the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo - known for it's high crime rate among other things. He ends up getting involved in the going-on's of the district and it's host of unbelievable characters.

Why you should and shouldn't watch it:
Durarara is one of those thinking animes that has action in it. It's easy to get lost in the action and miss some of the moments that when they get revealed later - make you want to rewatch previous episodes. One of the unfortunate things about the series is that I personally think it actually jumps the shark mid-way through the series, which is pretty much a shame. It's still a great anime anyway to watch regardless.

2) Highschool of the Dead

The Skinny:
Two young high school boys and a high school girl run across the roof of their school - smashing students turned zombies as they go. One of the boys get bit from one of the zombies, and a painful choice is made when the other boy is forced to kill the now-undead boy in front of his girlfriend. Now they must survive the Zombie Apocalypse that has enveloped the entire world.

Why you should and shouldn't watch it:
This is the best series of the year not tied to some anime from a previous year. This series is very much your Zombie Survival story in a anime format - and it works. It borrows obviously from other zombie survival films before it and combines it with anime fanservice. Obviously, if you aren't a fan of Zombie Survival flicks, you probably wouldn't be that much into this either.

1) Toaru Kagaku no Railgun

The Skinny:
A bio-engineered girl named Mikoto "Railgun" Misaka begins her attendance to the prestigious Tokiwadai middle school - where only the rich and powerful attend. Due to her power as one who can control electricity and her level five status - she already is called a "Onee-sama" of the school and is one of it's most well-known students.

Why you should and shouldn't watch it:
It's a spinoff series of another anime named Toaru Majutsu no Index where Mikoto was only a side character to that series. Because of the spinoff status, a viewer doesn't need to know anything about the main series this spun off from (in much the same vein one doesn't need to watch Triangle Hearts to watch Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha). Mikoto is one of the best characters of the year (winning the 2010 MegaTokyo Anime Grand Prix and nearly beat the eventual 2010 Saimoe champion, Azusa Nakano, by a mere 26 votes in the block final.) and she's almost reason enough to watch this series - but throw in one of the other best characters of the year, Ruiko Saten - and it's a must-watch. The only major negative of this anime is the poor storywriting, which tends to get lost sometimes and also sometimes just flat out doesn't make sense sometimes.

Honorable Mentions - These are listed because they either 1) were not good enough, 2) I didn't end up watching it much or at all, or 3) require watching a previous season. The number in parenthesis is to indicate the reasoning why they aren't in the top 10.
K-On!!(3), Hidamari Sketch Hoshimitsu(3), Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu season 2(3), Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoshitsu(3), Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings(3), Katanagatari(2), Yosuga no Sora(1), MM!(1), Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga nai(2), Dance in the Vampire Bund(2), Book Girl(1 - due to the movie).

Brand New Year

2011-01-01T12:06:00.000-08:00

It's a brand new year, and it means that it's time to think about things moving ahead. Or, if you are me, maybe about 10 minutes ahead.

Anyway, the picture above is from a little cosplay chess event here in San Diego a few weeks ago. Eventually I'll get the pictures up, but for now they're stuck on my hard drive until I can find a proper place for them - considering that I don't want to pay to get more room for my photobucket accounts and I just don't want to roll more accounts. Anyway, the jump below has some of the best pictures I took that day.

Also - a certain friend of mine seriously needs to stay away from fire. Few years back he got lit up on fire - last night he almost got lit up on fire again.

Be Right Back

2010-12-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

I'll be right back... someday. When someone can peel me off Cataclysm, Minecraft, and the impending anime backlog I have to get through.

The Day After BlizzCon 2010

2010-10-25T13:37:00.000-07:00

BlizzCon 2010 has come and gone, and many many things have happened. As for day 2, not as much in terms of exploration but definitely a lot on the after-party front. I spent most of the morning at the Hilton, either still waking up from Friday night's antics, getting some breakfast in while the line outside got into BlizzCon, and talking World of Warcraft with a random person I don't even remember the name of.

Anyway, good long post post-jump.

You can see my name there, with the Japanese "あ" -
didn't mean for the n and the i to look like a Hiragana character though.

Day 2 pretty much was the do-everything-you-can day, or grill Blizzard employees about details they might not be able to go into about day - depending on what you wanted to do that day. Me? Play Diablo 3 multiple times, a play or two at the StarCraft 2 machines, and not even looking at the WoW machines.

There was still plenty of things to explore, though at the end of Day 2, I was pretty much throughly done exploring BlizzCon.

The afterparty was quite interesting. I met and chilled out with random people - including various cosplayers such as the two who were the Witch Doctors the day before, some of the Hilton After-party council members, and such. Other highlights include:

Seeing Samwise at the Hilton Elevator - I asked him why there was no L80ETC performance this year, and pretty much the other band members not named Samwise and Mike Mordahime were not even in town and were working on projects on SC2.
Talking to Mike Mordahime - and begging for a L80ETC iTunes album.
Hearing about 2 random dudes at the Hilton After-Party on the upper floors - one pressed his nude body to the window and the other masturbated to the crowd. Glad I missed those two idiots.
Seeing the couple who gave a great show to everyone at the after-party by having sex with their room's blinds open.
Getting Metzen's brother through the retarded Hilton security.
Mike Mordahime grand entrance to the pool party (and everyone rolling their eyes at Hilton security).
Samwise making his entrance to the pool party, and his subsequent retreat after only going 10 feet.
Chris Metzen's grand entrance - and rallying the party despite being at 1/5th memory capacity and making everyone just about go into nerdgasms. Him doing Thrall's rally call was the best part of the night (except maybe for the afore-mentioned couple). I also fulfilled my promise that I would see him at BlizzCon after meeting him for the first time back at Comic-Con.
Getting booted from the pool - hanging out shortly at the lobby area for a bit, and coming back to my hotel room that reeked of puke.

BTW - These two were the Witch Doctor cosplays from Day 1.

BlizzCon was a blast. Part of the magic of going to a convention like this is that it's not just about seeing the latest and greatest things coming out of Blizzard - if that's all you are there for, you end up like some of the people I saw who left Saturday morning and went home. BlizzCon is about the effect Blizzard has in bringing people who wouldn't otherwise even acknowledge each other's presence with a place to meet, greet, talk, chill, kiss, propose, bang, hug, punch, fall, get angry with or have fun with. I didn't get to see any of Blizzard's Community Managers, which was a shame - though I think I saw Neth in passing (she's the lady with the candle on her head right? She blew by me like she was escaping the Lich King in Halls of Reflection.) Seeing all the awesome costumes this year was a blast - and I appreciate that the only people who turned me down for photos were Blizzard hired-booth babes - and only because I caught them at leaving the Hilton for the con instead of at the con itself.

My friends swear we will have better planning and will be doing things more grand in scale next BlizzCon. I just look forward to just meeting everyone again at the next BlizzCon.

(BTW - if you are expecting pictures of the afterparty - I didn't bring my camera. Something about being drunk and being scared of smashing my $400 DSLR.)

My photo gallery from BlizzCon 2010 is located here.

BlizzCon Day 1

2010-10-22T21:13:00.000-07:00

Day 1 is in the wraps for the most part, though there is still an hour left.

There has been some great things today - though there have been some disappointments from this year's BlizzCon so far. The announcements (D3 new class - Demon Hunter) was a drastic disappointment from last year's Cataclysm reveal. The cosplays have been awesome, as usual.

I totally missed the raid panel - again. And I heard it ended epically Deathwing. Anyway, if you expect more pictures from me, you'll have to wait til possibly last Sunday at the earliest. I doubt I'll be able to post tomorrow, so I'll see you guys when I manage to get through my alcoholic haze.

Some pictures post-jump.

The Day Before BlizzCon 2010

2010-10-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

AHHHHHHHH!!!

Okay, really, there's not that much pressure on me to pack. It's more like I don't think I have everything I need and still need to head out to the store to pick those up. Apparently my headset hates me and decided to die. I'm still in the air on the monopod/tripod (im probably not gonna bring one). Aside from that, I'm getting hyped. Anyway, I *might* update this post tonight once I get back from Pirates.

By the way, I'll be printing out the Unoffical BlizzCon Gatherings list just because I feel like carrying a copy around. So if you somehow manage to find me while I'm out there - I'll let you check the list in case you need to see it.

Alright, anything else and updates will be post-jump - which you shouldn't see right now because there isn't one.

It's the Day before the day before BlizzCon

2010-10-20T08:33:00.000-07:00

It's the day before the day before BlizzCon - and things are coming around nicely. I still need to maybe pickup a monopod/tripod for my Sony a220 DSLR for those in-convention dark shots with costumes that light up. I still need a new Nintendo DS AC charger (and get my DS charged, lol). And I need to turn in my work uniform today and my work badge back to my work since the Padres season is over - and they wanted me initially to turn it in over the weekend.

Tickets to Events (Pirates, BlizzCon, cheapo motel for thursday night, Hilton for Fri/Sat night, Medieval) - check!
Booze - Super check! (Actually, we may have too much booze - most of our extra may end up at the afterparty, lol.)
Affairs in Order - Being worked on.

Man, I'm getting giddy already.

For those people going to BlizzCon, I hope to meet you all there. I'll probably be one of the more recognizable dudes since I'll be wearing that tan fisherman's hat that you see my drunk Tonberry wearing. If you're a cosplayer, more likely then not, I'll find you. :P

I'll try to post on my blog during the nights - but that's like asking to beat a Korean at a StarCraft 2 game.

Yes We Nyan!

2010-10-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

Saimoe 2010 is down to three girls - if you have the ability to vote for Asuza - DO SO! :P

EDIT (10/16/10) - Azusa has won Saimoe! WOOHOO! :P

Unoffical BlizzCon 2010 Events

2010-10-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

I made this list a few days ago over on the cosplay.com forums, but due to forum javacode errors (I can't have the post go past 5 lines of text before it just wont let me upload my edits anymore) - it made editing the post consistently particularly hard. So I decided to just move the list here until a cosplay.com forum mod can figure out what's wrong with my account, or until BlizzCon arrives.

Anyway, the list is after the jump!

(LAST UPDATED - October 21st, 2010 - 8:30am )

While this is more for myself, I want to get a list here of the events being run by BlizzCon attendees so that while you guys are in costume (or not), you can find something going on and chill out with fellow Blizz nerds. :P

If you know of any events or have more info on a listed event not provided already, please drop a reply below. I'll update as much as I can from now until October 21st.

EDIT (Oct21) - There will be no more updates past this current update. See you all at BlizzCon!

All times are LOCAL (Pacific Standard Time).

The BlizzCon offical schedule can be found here.

The BlizzChat schedule can be found here.

The BlizzCon floor map can be found here.

Thursday

"Pocket Wants Denny's" Get Together - "So last year for Blizzcon 2009, Boom and I met some fantastic people early Thursday morning for some pre-Blizzcon eats. This year I want to fill a Denny's with Blizzard gaming peeps. I want to talk pre-Blizzcon buzz, meet some more gnomes and other Blizzard players, have fun, and EAT DENNY'S!"

Location - Denny's - 2080 South Harbor Boulevard, Anaheim, CA‎
Time: 10am - Noon (maybe as early as 4am?)

Pirates Dinner - A large group of BlizzCon attendees, led by Bulreporting (Ysera-US), Lucifurian, and Santista - will be raiding the Pirates Dinner Adventure. YARRRRR!

Location: Pirates Dinner Adventure (7600 Beach Blvd, Buena Park, California 90620)
Time: 7pm - End of Show

Medieval Times Dinner - A BlizzCon tradition with many attendees, the Medieval Times staff welcome Blizzcon attendees to attend their show the night before BlizzCon. Most attendees are seated with the Red Knight (Horde) or Blue Knight (Alliance) with non-attendees filling in the rest of the seats.

Location: Medieval Times (7662 Beach Blvd, Buena Park, California 90620)
Time: 5:30pm - 11pm

Cosplayer Dinner Meetup - "Meet up for all the cosplayers/handlers and friends!!!"

Location: Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen (@ Downtown Disney)
Time: 7pm - 9pm

Wowinterface.com Meetup - A meetup between the various members of the wow interface community. RSVP before attending!

Location: Bubba Gump's Shrimp
Time: 9pm

WoW Insider Reader Meetup - Meetup of readers of the famed WoW Insider blog.

Location: The patio near the poolside of the Anabella hotel
Time: Thursday, Oct. 21 at 7pm - runs til 11pm.

Friday

BlizzCon Group Photoshoot - A group photoshoot of as many cosplayers in costume that can be found. A BlizzCon non-offical event tradition. Usually held 1-3 hours before call-up time for the Costume Contest later that night.

Location: The Fountain outside the ACC's Arena.
Time: 2:30pm - 3:30pm

AIMCON Dinner - "Join us after the first day of the convention for an exciting, fun, and delicious dinner with fellow AIMCONners. It should turn out to be a night of post-Blizzcon debauchery and everyone is invited!" RSVP before attending!

Location: Fire + Ice
Time: 9pm

StarCraft 2 BlizzCon 2010 Party - A party being hosted by the folks at Team Liquid, this party may have very special guests, including participants in the SC2 Invitational tournament as well as the possible visits from pro-gamers including the ones that may be a part of the SC2, WC3, and WoW Arena tournaments.

Location: Doubletree Hotel (The one near BlizzCon)
Time: 9pm

Raid Warning Meetup - "Raid Warning is crashing this year’s Blizzcon and on Friday October 22nd at 9:00PM we will be hosting a listener meetup and live show."

Location: Dave and Busters (The Block at Orange 20 City Blvd. G, Suite 1, Orange, CA 92868)
Time: Friday, October 22nd, 2010. 9PM – 1AM

Dual-boxing.com Dinner - "It has become a tradition that we set up a DB.com dinner at BlizzCon. Seeing as how it gave me good karma in getting tickets, I'm starting the process. Previous years we have had it at the California Pizza Kitchen, which is within walking distance and has been able to accommodate our numbers. Unless anyone has other suggestions, I'd be for having it there again."

Location: California Pizza Kitchen
Time: 10pm

BlizzCon Wind-down - A after-party meetup at the bar located on the first floor of the Anaheim Hilton, hosted by Pocketkitx.

Location: Anaheim Hilton Bar, First Floor.
Time: 10pm - 11:30pm (or until security kicks everyone out.)

Twisted Nether Blogcast meetup - A meetup of Twisted Nether podcast listeners and fellow BlizzCon attendees.

Location: Bubba Gump Shrimp
Time: 9pm

Saturday

Morning Breakfast Meet-up at IHOP - "ANYWAY!.....Who's going? I will be wearing a black horde sweatshirt with my white dead space rorschach T-shirt, and I will put something at the table / tables that says *Blizzcon Breakfast meet up!*"

Location - IHOP(1840 South Harbor Boulevard, Right up the street from the convention center)
Time - 8:30am

BlizzCon 5k Run - Anybody feeling up to the challenge of running a 5k race before the doors open for the second day of BlizzCon? Well join us as we participate in the Chapman University Toyota of Orange 5k Run/Walk! All are welcome! It should be a great run on a fast, flat course for people interested in setting a new PR! You must Register to run in this event!

Location: Chapman University (Schmid Gate One University Drive, Corner of Glassell and University Drive Orange, CA)
Time: 7:30am - 9pm

Hilton After-party (Link 2)- The defacto BlizzCon afterparty, located at the pool area of the Anaheim Hilton. Open bar and drinks are free (they are "donated" by the Hilton After-party council and any other kind souls willing to provide alcohol.). Certain Blizzard employees appear from time to time, like Chris Metzen. There is some spillover to the bar on the first floor (rumor had it that Blizzard employees were given free drinks all night by the bar, and they were put on Blizzard's tab.)

Location: Anaheim Hilton Pool area, Fifth Floor
Time: 9pm - security kicks everyone out.

The Raid movie screening - A free movie screening of the WoW related movie documentary "The Raid". You must acquire tickets in order to attend this event, and there is free refreshments before the screening and supposedly a after-party. Ticketed Event!

Location: House of Blues
Time: Open 9pm, Screening at 10pm

Sunday

Disneyland Raid - A raid of Disneyland by BlizzCon attendees not getting on flights going home on Sunday. There are additional events being hosted by this group, and more info can be found in the link above for those events.

Location: Disneyland
Time: All day Sunday.

Magic Mountain Raid - A fairly last second pick up raid of Magic Mountain being led by Palladega (Anjol-Nerub-A). If you love roller coasters, this is the event to be for the day after BlizzCon.

Location: Six Flags Magic Mountain
Time: All day Sunday. (Meeting up in front of the gates @ 10am.)

(LAST UPDATED - October 21st, 2010 - 8:30am )

And now a word from our sponsors...

2010-09-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

Ufufufufufufufufu

So yea, we're already past the mid-point of Saimoe 2010 and I haven't had a update post about it yet. I'll probably wait til round 3 - though there hasn't been much surprises out of this year's Saimoe as of yet. The only surprise so far is the early elimination of Hinagiku from Hayate no Gotoku, and that's not really much of a surprise because eventually everyone knew she was going to be eliminated at some point. Besides, the next round has the good matches like Shana v Nanoha II, and Yuno v Nadeko v Nagi matchups.

The big thing I want to get doing though is some more anime blogging, and less life-blogging like I previously used to do before. I won't completely eliminate doing some personal life blogging, since I do have interesting stuff happen around me sometimes, but I rather talk more about anime and games then I do about my own personal life that is more boring then Sae Nakata's story arc in Amagami SS. To do that, I'm planning on doing more review type posts and episode by episode analysis starting next anime season as well as checking out more games and doing more game reviews. I did plan in the past to do that in a separate blog, but I feel that'd be a little bit much for me so to roll review posts, real life posts, event posts, reaction posts, or just posting about whatever is more in line in what I should focus on then making 15 blogs about each type of post I want to make. Besides, it'll help to get me writing about stuff then just tossing random comments on the MegaTokyo board everyday.

And besides, more anime and gamer posts can't hurt, right?

K-ON!! is over!

2010-09-18T15:20:00.000-07:00

K-On! is over, and with it goes probably one of the best anime shows in the past two years. As some of you may know, I've been watching anime for years. And I mean YEARS. There have been only three animes to ever make me cry:

1) Marmalade Boy's final episode
2) Kaledostar's last episode of season one
3) Kanon 2002's angel ending

K-On's ending is probably #4, though it's the only one where I didn't cry initially, but as I played HTT's final song over (the above linked Tenshi ni Fureta yo) I eventually folded. While the above video is a MAD (a Japanese AMV), the actual scene is still pretty bittersweet because of them leaving Azunyan behind. In any case, I'll just continue to cry in the corner - along with TM Revolution.

HMM Kingdoms

2010-09-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

So lately I've been playing the browser MMO Might and Magic Heroes Kingdoms. Quite the mouthful, I know. It's a browser game based on the original Heroes of Might and Magic series - and like that series, it's been pretty fun. While it is a quite slow (you set your orders then you come back 3/6/9/12 hours later) I've been slowly building my little city.

Anyway, I want to encourage people to join me in wasting time in this, and you can do that by clicking this link. Clicking the link above will get you started AND place you in my general area so we can help (or hurt) each other out. You can sign up via Facebook, Windows Live Account, or by Ubisoft Account.

Aside from that, not much else going on aside from the major upset of seeing Hinagiku leave Saimoe in round 1, the Padres losing like crazy and looking to remove themselves from the playoffs, and unneeded bullet time with boobies.

I really do need better things to talk about sometimes.

Now a word from Orgrimmar...

2010-08-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

Ignore the name of the rogue...

If you are wondering why there aren't many updates to the blog - this is why. I got into the World of Warcraft Cataclysm Beta. Been roaming around on my main, my main alt, and this cute little rogue. I'll get back to posting more when I get around to doing so.

Saimoe 2010 - The Watch List

2010-08-04T05:47:00.000-07:00

Wha-WHAT DO YOU MEAN IM NOT IN SAIMOE THIS YEAR?!

Saimoe 2010 has kicked off two days ago - and so this post is all about the top girls to look out for to cheer on as they begin the long three month process to determine the best anime girl of the year (because seriously, who votes for the most moe of them all in this now?) This year looks to be extremely brutal because none of the anime series in contention this year really stood out from the pack - and Saimoe has expanded to a even more brutal format by making Round 3 (the Group Finals) a three-way (it used to be a 1v1 match before) to get even more girls in.

Check the jump to see which girls have the best shot to win it all this year - considering there IS no defending champion this year in the tournament. Just a word of warning - Saimoe predicting is NEVER a exact science. =P

Group A
Yuno (Hidamari Sketch) - A perennial favorite every year (and is seen on the top banner of this blog) who always threatens to go all the way every year. I'd expect to see her in the group finals.

Nadeko Sengoku (Bakemonogatari) - A fresh new entry from the new series, Bakemonogatari. She's been buoyed of late because of the success of her Seiyuu, Kana Hanazawa, as well as her OP song which has spawned a dance that has gone viral in Japan.

Yui Hirasawa (K-On!!) - Yui is back, and this ditzy dojiiko has shown to have more character depth then most people realize as this season of K-On goes on. Expect Yui to be boosted with each airing of K-On (a anime series which trends as #keion on twitter when it airs in Japan.)

Tsubasa Hanekawa (Bakemonogatari) -Another girl from Bakemonogatari. Her arc is the most recent one, though it was only aired online. Still, she is one of the main girls of the series and can be quite the fan favorite.

Nagi Senzenin (Hayate no Gotoku) - The runner-up from the 2007 saimoe is back to try to win it all again. As with any girl voiced by the Queen of Tsunderes - Rie Kugimiya - expect her to do well this year as well.

Notables - Yachiyo Todoroki (Working!), Kazumi Yoshida (Shakugan no Shana), Hanyuu (When They Cry), Riko Suminoe (KissxSis)

Group B

Yuri Nakamura (Angel Beats!) - One of the two main girls in Angel Beats, a new one-time series. She was compared to be much like Haruhi Suzumiya early on, but showed more character depth two episodes in.

Shana (Shakugan no Shana) - Shana is back again this year and is always a threat - which she needs to prove again this year because her first match is with Yuri Nakamura.

Nanoha Takamachi (Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha) - The 2005 Saimoe champion is out and about again in her quest to reach the top again and be the only girl in Saimoe history to win it twice.

Notables - Nazuna (Hidamari Sketch), Ryou Fujibayashi (Clannad), Mikuru Asahina (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), Mayoi Hachikuji (Bakemonogatari), Rin Tousaka (Fate/Stay Night), Kana Ikeda (Saki), Alicia Melchiott (Valkyria Chronicles), Isumi Saginomiya (Hayate no Gotoku), Shinobu Oshino (Bakemonogatari), Nodoka Miyazaki (Negima), Tamaki Kousaka (To Heart 2)

Group C
Kazari Uiharu (A Certain Scientific Railgun) - A new girl from the spinoff series to A Certain Magical Index, Uiharu is one of the stronger girls of the series, and perhaps of this tournament.

Mihoko Fukuji (Saki) - Mihoko is always one of the more recognizable characters of Saki, and CAPTAIN had a pretty good performance during MegaTokyo's AGP 2010.

Notables - Yuuki Kataoka (Saki), Ayumu Nishizawa (Hayate no Gotoku), Horo (Spice & Wolf), Maria (Hayate no Gotoku), Hisa Takei (Saki), Sheryl Nome (Macross Frontier), Mii Konori (A Certain Scientific Railgun), Satoko Houjou (When They Cry), Mion Sonozaki (When They Cry), Yamada (B Gata H Kei)

Group D
Kuroko Shirai (A Certain Scientific Railgun) - Kuroko is back again this year, this time as the love-hate sidekick to Mikoto Misaka in the spinoff series to A Certain Magical Index. The Teleporter should have a much stronger outing this time around, and would be surprised if she were to lose in a blowout like she did when she went against Azusa Nakano (K-On!)

Anri Sonohara (Durarara!) - One of the two notable girls from Durarara!, a new anime series coming into this year. She's had quite a number of doujins made of her already.

Celty Sturluson (Durarara!) - The mysterious headless motobike rider is actually one of the most cute characters in the show, considering she doesn't even have a head to express feelings as accurate as she would if her head was attached.

Hiro (Hidamari Sketch) - Hiro is another character who can get far, but like last year could face elimination early since she faces Celty.

Notables - Asuna Kagurazaka (Negima!), Sawako Yamanaka (K-On!!), Koromo Amae (Saki), Kyou Fujibayashi (Clannad), Aruruu (Utawarerumono)

Group E
Yuki Nagato (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) - Apparently whoever runs Saimoe must love putting Yuki and Haruhi in the same group, as both are in the same group for the third time - and perhaps we may see Yuki go up against Haruhi for the third time.

Kanade Tachibana (Angel Beats!) - A "Yuki Nagato" like character who turns out to not be so soulless. Probably the only real threat to prevent another Yuki-Haruhi clash.

Mahoro Ando (Mahoromatic) - How did Mahoro qualify for this year? Two OVA's? Gotcha. She's a mystery as to how well she will do - as her last appearance in Saimoe is way back to the inaugural Saimoe tournament back in 2002.

Haruhi Suzumiya (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) - In her previous two battles against Yuki, she lost those battles (though the second one ended up being a split vote allowing Eruruu of Utawarerumono to advance).

Notables - Utau Hoshino (Shugo Chara), Suou Pavlichenko (Darker Than Black), Index (A Certain Scientific Railgun), Jun Suzuki (K-On!!), Asami Iwasawa (Angel Beats!), Seika Houjouin (Princess Lover!), Ranka Lee (Macross Frontier), Sakura Matou (Fate/Stay Night), Shizuku Sangou (Kampfer), Shiki Ryougi (Kara no Kyoukai), Komoe Tsukuyomi (A Certain Scientific Railgun)

Group F
Yui (Angel Beats!) - This crazy baby might get far, possibly as far as the group finals - and if she picks up steam along the way, it could propel her much further then most people may think.

Hinagiku Katsura (Hayate no Gotoku) - Hinagiku is pretty much AnimeSuki's patron goddess to win Saimoe every year, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see her advance far yet again this year.

Saki Miyanaga (Saki) - Saki is on a collision course with Hinagiku above in the second round, after being eliminated last year by Hina's fellow castmate, Nagi Sanzenin. I wouldn't bet against her, she could Rinshan Kaiho her way to the top.

Rika Furude (When They Cry) - The 2007 Saimoe Champion has not had a good run as of late in the past two Saimoes, where she has been eliminated in the 2nd round (Haruka Minami - Minami-ke, Yui Hirasawa - K-On!). She may not even get that far this year because...

Hitagi Senjougahara (Bakemonogatari) - ...she faces Hitagi. If anyone had been following the 2010 MegaTokyo Anime Grand Prix - Hitagi is quite literally a unstoppable force, and it took a equally as strong character (Mikoto Misaka, A Certain Scientific Railgun) to beat her... in the finals, in a comeback. Very easily the early sexy favorite to possibly win this year.

Ritsu Tainaka (K-On!!) - If she can somehow manage to get past Hitagi, Ritsu would be a fairly strong contender to win the group with a strong showing in this season's K-On!

Notables - Mahiru Inami (Working!), Kaede Sakura (Kampfer), Rima Mashiro (Shugo Chara!), Mina Tepes (Dance in the Vampire Bund), Cal Devens (Phantom)

Group G
Mikoto Misaka (A Certain Scientfic Railgun) - Mikoto comes into Saimoe fresh off her thrilling comeback victory over Hitagi Senjougahara in the MegaTokyo Anime Grand Prix to win it all - but will it translate to a Saimoe crown like it did for Taiga last year?

Miyako (Hidamari Sketch) - Like her fellow castmate Yuno, Miyako is a threat every year to get very deep into Saimoe. With yet another successful season for HidaSketch, we may see her get far again.

Ui Hirasawa (K-On!!) - Ui may go very far this year, possibly as far as her sister Yui. She's had a very strong showing in this season's K-On, and that may help her go far.

Momoko Touyoko (Saki) - Stealth Momo is a girl to never forget about, lest she may actually sneak by and get you. She is capable of beating Ui in their first round match but could be eliminated from a Saki split-vote.

Azusa Nakano (K-On!!) - Azusa had a very sucessful year last year in Saimoe - losing in the group finals to eventual champion, Taiga Aisaka. The second round could be trouble though if she has to face fellow castmate (and friend) Ui Hirasawa in a possible split-vote loss.

Mio Akiyama (K-On!!) - Expect Mio to have a VERY strong year this year, after her embarrassing loss in the first round last year to Kana Minami of Minami-ke. It's very possible that she could not just reach the group finals, but win it and be a strong contender for the crown.

Notables - Shion Sonozaki (When They Cry), Ein (Phantom), Chika (Hidamari Sketch), Suruga Kanbaru (Bakemonogatari), Momoko Touyoko (Saki), Poplar Taneshima (Working!), Kobato Hanato (Kobato), Ako Suminoe (KissxSis), Shiina (Angel Beats!)

Group H
Saber (Fate/Stay Night) - Saber is one of the more beloved girls in Japan, and her facing Fate Testarossa in the first round is naturally a great test for her.

Fate Testarossa (Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha) - After facing Saber, whoever wins would probably reach the group finals.

Ruiko Saten (A Certain Scientific Railgun) - Ruiko is one of those characters who can come out of nowhere and get far. She'll have to face tough competition every round though, as her first round opponent includes Sae of HidaSketch who is perennially strong, and possible 2nd round opponents in Tsumugi or Rena.

Tsumugi Kotobuki (K-On!!) - Tsumugi is having a successful season so far in K-On, after being one of the more forgettable girls in K-On's first season.

Rena Ryuuguu (When They Cry) - Rena is a perennial favorite to win every year, but this year she has a rough road ahead of her as she'll have to face tough opponents every round this year.

Amu Hinamori (Shugo Chara!) - My personal favorite pick to win it all, her two losses are quality losses to eventual 2008 champion, Kagami Hiiragi of Lucky Star, and Koromo Amae of Saki. She's reached the 2nd round at least in her past two tournaments, and there's no reason to think she won't reach the group finals again this year and possibly win the group.

Nori (Hidamari Sketch) - Nori is one of the two fresh faces from Hidamari Sketch, and should have a strong following. She could be a threat if Amu were to somehow falter in round one or two.

Notables - Isara Gunther (Valkyria Chronicles), Sae (Hidamari Sketch), Miki Hanabishi (Hayate no Gotoku), Natsuru Senou (Kampfer)

Overview
This year's round one is exceptionally cruel this year, as we'll see quality matches almost every day of round one. There are a lot of names being thrown around, and it's possible that even one of the notables listed can win it all. This is probably one of the deepest Saimoe tournaments to date, and it'll be especially grueling to whoever can manage to come out on top. It's very possible we could see some surprises in this year's tournament.

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Day 4

2010-07-26T06:02:00.000-07:00

Sunday is usually the dead day of the con - being that people are extremely tired out from Saturday Night drinking and hardcore partying as well as it being the family half-day. The only time people are really awake are in the mad two hour rush at the end of the day - where vendors start dropping prices on items faster then a Wall Street market crash.

But walking around the booths at the Anime Alley this year in that mad rush - I realized only three booths were even selling manga. And only one of them had any extensive libraries - and they cost quite a bit. Not only that, NONE of them carried the MegaTokyo volume 6 that I wanted to pick up at the con. Lets put it this way - I heard one of the vendors complaining about manga pirating and that the entire industry was burning in flames. You would expect a vendor to say that. I hung out with Fred "Piro" Gallagher online later during his online drawing session that he had later in the night - and he put it simply as "Manga is dead." That's something you don't want to hear as a Otaku from someone who's done extremely well in the past in Graphic Novels and has been on the New York Best Sellers list multiple times.

Anyway, some more of the minor details I did today as well as more pictures after the jump.

I really wish I had checked the DC booth throughly - I had not known that CMX had gone the way of the dinosaurs and that DC was not even doing any promotion for MegaTokyo volume 6. Piro was throughly pissed about the non-advertising from DC and I don't blame him.
Yoshitaka Amano is just simply amazing. He starts his drawings from the very top of the head and shades before he completes most of the outline lines. Only someone who's been drawing for decades can draw like that...
It was nice to see Cosplay Chess again this year - but hopefully those who want to run it again via Cosplay.com at Comic-Con hold it earlier in the day or earlier in the con. It really wrecked into my alloted time to roam the final hours of the Exhibit Hall.
Next year, I need to set aside time to roam around the Gaslamp area. There was a ton of stuff going on out there that I never got to. That is - if I even manage to get a 4-day badge w/Preview Night as there are rumors spreading like wildfire about PN badges ALREADY being sold out for 2011.

And now for some pictures - and that'll be it for this year's Comic-Con posts.


Cosplayers of the Day

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Day 3

2010-07-25T06:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday has come and gone. And the busiest day has come and gone. Except - there was only two anime panels the entire darn day, and I only went to one (Viz).

First, just saying but seriously what the hell - people STABBING each other over panel seats is just outright stupid. Why people get so rabid that they stab each other over something as trivial as panel seats is just plain stupid.

Anyway, I didn't do much but hang out with cosplayers for most of the day. So instead of giving a point by point what I did throughout the day - I'll just post pictures after the jump. By the way, I did go to the Masquerade, but there wasn't really anything worth noting this year and it's best judged for yourselves when acparadise gets their videos up on YouTube.

By the way - you can find the 615 pictures I took on Saturday here in my SECOND photobucket account.

Cosplayer of the Day - and he made the costume in THREE WEEKS.

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Day 2

2010-07-24T06:47:00.000-07:00

Just going to post pictures post-jump for the most part, since I tired out last night. Some quick highlights - considering I did more general hanging-out today then I did panel hopping. A lot of great cosplays yesterday, should be better today.

Yen press panel for the most part wasn't really that exciting - but hey announcements!
Got into the Vampire Knight panel - somehow. I thought I entered the wrong room and got into a panel for Twlight. Ethan Murray (Kaname) was pretty quiet for most of the panel, Vic Mignogna (Zero) pretty much was himself - interesting voice and all, and Mela Lee (Yuki) probably blushed for half the panel (which was quite amusing). English Anime Voice Actors tend to have some interesting stories... Oh, and I had thought Yuki was voiced by Luci Christan - whoops.
Speaking of voice actors - I hung out with one toward the end of the night. Unfortunately, I woke up and had completely forgotten his name - but somehow remembered he does wear kilts. Fail, I know. But we hung out with a guy I know from the Anime Conji staff and seriously - English Anime Voice Actors tend to have some INTERESTING stories...

Slightly off.... a tad.

Quite a big squad of Spartans and ODSTs here.

Many Vocaloids!

This Bounty Hunter does not know what to make of this...

Cosplayer of the Day

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Day 1

2010-07-23T00:21:00.000-07:00

Wow was today super busy. Thursday has started to become a very exhausting day, and despite the fact there were a significant lack of cosplay.com gatherings today, there was a TON of cosplayers today. I probably should have 300 pictures, but I stopped taking pictures after around 4:30pm to attend panels.

By the way, my pictures of Comic-Con for this year is located on my Photobucket - which includes last night's Preview Night pictures.

Also, the Westboro Baptisi Church got majorly trolled today.

Anyway, hit the jump to see more pictures.

The Manny Pacquiao doll. Suggested retail price? $500 USD. Yea, have fun buying that.

Yes, that unicorn really is so fluffy.

Considering how retardedly easy it is for people to make signs at the convention (they steal cardboard from the cardboard trash bins) - it's no surprise that Westboro Baptist Church pretty much got ran off. Anyway, some other highlights of my day today:

Normally I don't go posting pictures of myself. It's bad because I look like someone that should never see the light of day. But when there's Chris Metzen involved, I think it's okay. By the way - he assures me that Elune is NOT a Naaru, as theorized by the wow.com Know Your Lore writer.

Chilled out at the Capcom panel - Dead Rising 2 looks pretty awesome, as does MvC 3. Just when did they age Ieyasu from a whiny little kid to a bare-fisted kick ass fighter in Sengoku Basara? Did I miss something? Also, the Mega Man Universe trailer looked really... horridly fake and dumb. Then again, there hasn't been much of anything on Mega Man Universe - they haven't even really started development.
I normally don't fall asleep in panels. But I got so tired, I slept through parts of the Lost in Translation panel. Apparently I missed the part about them discussing the closure of the onemanga website.
Some of those Bandai guys speak some darn good English. English dubbing of Haruhi-chan made me wish to hear Aya Hirano and crew again.
The Final Fantasy concert tonight overall was pretty good. Unfortunately, the one from four years ago was better - which is a shame because there were 21 Japanese dignitaries from the Square Enix offices who were in town because of Comic-Con. Also included a appearance by Vanille's English voice actress (she really has a great Irish accent) as well as Nobuo Uematsu, who sang with the choir during the encore song, Sepiroth's Theme.

Overall, a very good but tiring day. And this was only Day 1! Back in early tomorrow, hopefully with less burnout.

Cosplayer of the Day

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Day 0

2010-07-21T11:36:00.000-07:00

Day Zero has arrived for Comic-Con. Now people may wonder - why does Comic-Con start off with a "Day Zero"?

Well, a few years back, Comic-Con started doing "Preview Night", which opens up the Comic-Con Exhibit Hall on the wednesday night before the start of the convention - exclusive only to those with four-day badges. Pretty much, you get three hours of insanity, starting with exploring the massive Comic-Con exhibit hall AND checking out the random events going on at the same time! There's always a lot to do at Comic-Con, and it all starts tonight.

Naturally - I'll be there at ground zero, taking photos, tweeting ( http://twitter.com/aNiMeGaMeR0 ), and just having some darn fun. Jump after the break to check out my time at Comic-Con's Preview Night!

I'm currently preparing my gear for Comic-Con right now. I'll be running around with my MegaTokyo bookbag and my unique poster tube with drawings and signatures from Piro and Gabe. I should be over at the convention site at around 3 or 4pm today.

The unfortunate thing is that it seems twitpic is really slow in getting my pictures from my cellphone and getting it up on twitter (I did one yesterday, and it didn't get on twitter until nearly 12 hours after I sent it through my cellphone). So I won't be able to provide any pictures this year immediately to twitter via my phone. And as of right now, I have no laptop to use to access the free wi-fi to put my camera pictures up on short notice. So updates to the blog will be coming late (approx midnight PST).

So when you see the update to this post, it'll probably be at around 11pm to midnight PST tonight. Until then...

UPDATE:
Preview Night is in the book, and here are some pics. A big disappointment for me is the major lack of cosplayers this year. Last year's preview night had far more cosplayers, but they all but disappeared this year.

The Green Hornet car - parked right outside the convention center, next to the Hard Rock Hotel.

Apparently I didn't know that Manny Pacquiao had his own line of toys.

Random attendee playing with the Sony PlayStaion Move. Seeing it in action, it looks really stupid. Maybe I need to see the Wizardry demo, and I haven't seen that yet.

This picture is for a certain MegaTokyo forum member who happens to love Aoba (the girl in the picture).

Toward the end of the night, I decided to drop by the jlist booth. Then I saw Yui and I was like this:

I also ended up getting a Misaka shirt (to celebrate Mikoto Misaka winning the MegaTokyo Anime Grand Prix) and a Taiga shirt (to celebrate Taiga's triumphant trifecta last year of the AGP, Saimoe, and kMoe.) I also plan on getting a Touhou and HTT shirt tomorrow.

Cosplayers of the Day

Some other things that need mentioning before closing this post:

There has been some whispers online of a possible Del Rey Manga demise - I talked to Dallas Middaugh today at the Del Rey booth about exactly this. Despite the lack of a panel this year (he assures me it's because they have nothing to announce this year) - Del Rey Manga is far from dead. I'll probably go see him again sometime during the con to make sure the company gets back to communicating to it's fans via social networking mediums just so it doesn't make them look like dead fish.
Guess who else has no panel. Seven Seas does not have a panel - though their reasoning is that they announce on twitter now instead of having panels.
Why in the world does a awesome album such as the Girls Dead Monster "Keep the Beats" LP have to cost $31?! I thought about buying it at Kinokuniya but thought better of spending $31 on a CD.
Cliffy B's new work - Gears of War 3 - is quite impressive. I have never played ANY Gears of War game (blasphemy, I know) but I really want to try the game this week just to see why a certain YouTube video maker totally flipped out over this game. Smacking some humans as a big beast of doom was actually quite fun.
EA's Metal of Honor game was pretty fun - when it wasn't random crashing the program OR the computer on me. They kept swearing I was bad luck.
I thought about going to the /cgl/ meetup, but I realized that I do not know anyone from /cgl/ - and like hell I'm going to start asking random people "Hey, I'm looking for some /drama/?" I'm probably better off not messing with Anons.

The Day Before SDCC10

2010-07-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Comic-Con starts tomorrow - which means today is preparation day. I don't have much to do today, thanks to Blizzard pulling the plug on my World of Warcraft server (Velen) for 24 hours as well as pulling the StarCraft 2 beta offline permanently.

So today I'll probably be watching some anime and getting supplies for the big event tomorrow. Maybe I'll get around to making another blog post later today on some of the anime that I have been watching over the past couple days.

And maybe drop by Downtown San Diego tonight, just to see if there are people already camping out there.

Updates (and more pictures) after the jump!

Update #1 - I haven't made my rough set schedule yet, and I probably wont until tomorrow when I get my programming guide. However, here is my panel schedule I have up - though no assurances that I will be at each panel (due to attendance caps, lines, or conflicting events).

http://sched.comic-con.org/aNiMeGaMeR0

Some other schedules to look at is the one being complied over at the Cosplay.com forums, which lists a good amount of all the cosplay gatherings that will be happening this year. Another schedule to look at is the party schedule that will be going on around the convention - it's quite interesting to see whats going on around the convention during the week.

Alright, im heading out! I'll probably twitpic some pictures from the convention center before heading back home - so check my twitter out over at twitter.com/aNiMeGaMeR0 .

Update #2 - No one was at the convention center for the one hour I was there tonight. However, I did take some pictures still - including some cosplayers that were around (YES, COSPLAYERS.)

If for some reason you want the original files of the pictures above, drop me a e-mail and I'll e-mail the originals to you. This goes for any pictures that I will take for the next 5 days as well.

Field Trip!

2010-07-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to testing out my new Sony a330 Digital SLR around the San Diego Convention Center, the Gaslamp District, and Seaport Village. This little trip was taken after I got off work, fresh from a San Diego Padres sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks - it was actually getting kind of late but the sun stayed up for quite awhile. Which is great, because the sun will probably be up still when the Comic-Con exhibit halls close at night during this week.

Anyway, more pictures, including pictures of the new ads adorning the San Diego Bayfront Hilton and the San Diego Mariott after the break!

They started putting this sign up on Friday and had it completely up at the end of the day on Saturday. The sign looks pretty epic, and as it says - "An epic of epic epicness."

This one was started probably sometime on Saturday, and was not completed by the time I took this photo, though for the most part it looks done. If you look real closely, those little lines you see are actually people... falling out of the sky. Hmm...

Good to see this sign coming back up. You know Comic-Con week is here when you see that sign put up over the north side of the convention hall.

After walking around a bit - I dropped by to nearby Seaport Village to pick up some delicious pizza from this little place. It's quite good, but expect a pretty good wait.

That over there is the USS Ronald Reagan at it's home port at NAS North Island. There was a nice effect going on with the sun rays dropping through the clouds - unfortunately I really suck in using my camera and I haven't been able to master getting those beams to really show as much as I wanted it to.

If you are in San Diego on a sunday, and you have nothing to do, you can drop by Seaport Village and see things such as this lady posing as a statue. It's quite cool to check out.

This lady clearly was freaked out by the human robot guy - but he was pretty fun to see as well. I think he did a pretty darn good job of being a hip hop dancing robot.

Lastly, before I left the area - I took one more shot of the finished Comic-Con sign that is put up. By Tuesday afternoon, when the Comic-Con crazies finally show up to camp outside for the night to be the first to get their badges - most of the convention decorations and booths will be up.

Anyway, hope to see you all at Comic-Con! Or at least drop me some comments.

New Blog Name

2010-07-16T05:26:00.000-07:00

This has been a long time coming. No more is this blog known as "aNiMeGaMeR's blog" - that's such a boring title. So in a attempt to make the title more flashy, I have made a new blog title!

Along with the new title, anyone trying to go to the old link will realize that I have also changed the website address of the blog to reflect the change in the blog title.

Also, as of this post, I will be using "after jumps".

Welcome to the "after jump" area! I've been meaning to switch to this for a long while now. Kotaku and Sankaku and wow.com and many other blogs use it too - and because if you see some of my older posts, some of them get image heavy so it's about time I start using them. Alright, that is all!

In other news, Mioroll.

Back Once Again!

2010-07-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

Back just in time for the start of Saimoe 2010 as well as the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con. Once again I'll be blogging about Saimoe (though not that much right now since it's in the prelim stages still) and about SDCC (which I will be at ground zero for, as usual.)

Oh ya, I also got me a new camera. The picture above was taken in my house using my brand new Sony α330 10.2 megapixel DSLR. I'm very very new into the DSLR game though, after years of using a HP Photoshoot M627 - but I feel that as I grow into this new camera, I'll become a better photographer. SDCC 10 will be the very first event I will be using the new camera for, with BlizzCon 2010 in the horizon. Should be loads of fun at both events, and getting back into blogging after a six month absence.

EDIT - New Design again for the blog. As much as I love Yuno wearing a bucket on her head, don't expect that background to stick around. I'll get around to replacing it with something that is cooler once I find something that is - well - better then Yuno with a bucket on her head and looks good on the site. By the way - the new design does not take into account picture sizes apparently, so some of the posts with pictures in them may end up going out of bounds.

Merry Chirstmas - see you later all!

2009-12-10T17:51:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas all. Unfortunately, I chose a bad time to state this now - but I'm shutting down the blog due to inactivity for now. Well, not completely shutting down - only that the blog will not be updated with any new posts for probably awhile. Heck, this post took two months.

When I finally get my head back together to put together some new blog posts, the site will be active again.

Taiga wins Saimoe

2009-10-17T07:45:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Taiga Aisaka for winning Saimoe. She is the first champion ever to complete the "MTmoe" Triple Crown of the MegaTokyo Anime Grand Prix, the Korean Best Moe (this link will probably change), and the crown jewel - Saimoe. This will probably be a feat that will never be repeated, quite frankly.

Also, Omedetou to Rie Kugimiya. It's been a long long time coming for her to finally get a character to the top - especially after what happened two years ago when Nagi came oh so close to winning it all.

AGP will be in half a year, and the early Saimoe winner predicting can begin once again.

SaiMoe 2009 - Countdown to One

2009-10-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

I won't be posting on the blog for awhile. Instead, I'll continue to give match analysis over on the MegaTokyo forums. So instead, I'll be leaving this image above for those who want to track the SaiMoe 2009 results. The above image is updated by Aya Reiko - a forum member (moderator?) over at the AnimeSuki forums.

Now, off to do other things...

About Saki in Saimoe...

2009-09-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

Saki is still in line to have 6 out of 8 characters in the top 8 but...

To quickly quote myself from the MT forums:

Saki has 6 characters who could end up Top 8 still (which would obviously be a Saimoe record). However, some of the matches don't really favor them anymore and there are no double votes to help them from this point forward. You really have to give it that "Any Given Sunday" attitude to each match.

And these matches are not easy for most of them - Today's match is probably the 2nd easiest to win for the Saki faction, quite honestly.

Kana vs Isumi does not favor Kana. This is practically the test match to the major Nodoka v Nagi match later on.

Momoko has to go against Louise - a perennial threat every year to win and has a bit of that "Suiseisuki" hate-love factor going on.

Koromo draws Amu-chi - and Shugo Chara's recent Season 2 ending is going to give Amu a big boost (she had her best cheer-up monologue of the series in the last episode, IMO) while Koromo was not really featured at the end of Saki.

Lastly, Nodocchi has to face Nagi who just knocked out Saki two days ago. I'm sure more then anything the Hayate faction would love to shift the balance of power to their favor by knocking out Saki's strongest character in the tournament.

The only match where a Saki character is expected to outright win is when KYAPTEN goes off to obliterate poor Eruruu out of the tournament forever after her usefulness of kicking out both Haruhi characters is gone.

This oesn't mean that 6 out of 8 characters will come out of one series is impossible - but the odds of that happening are very slim. I would believe at most 4 end up in the top 8.

Also a quick mention here - Rie Kugimiya still have 4 characters in the tournament (none of them got eliminated last round.) It could be possible that we could see all four go on to the top 8 - and depending on how the match pairings come out when the top 8 face off - we could see a top 4 all KugiRie final four. Which IMO would be a amazing feat were it to actually happen.

And also - Hayate despite losing a number of people last round including one of its strongest in Hinagiku - is still a threat out there that needs to be looked out for.

SaiMoe 2009 Sweet Sixteen

2009-09-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

We've finally reached the 2009 SaiMoe block finals. Here is a quick analysis of each match - and picks.

Introducing your top 16 girls of anime for the past year in Japan:

There isn't a order to the madness yet, but as we get closer to that final match date of October 17th, we'll know who is at the top and who is just mid-tier.

SaiMoe 2009 - Top 32 -- I mean 34!

2009-09-21T15:20:00.000-07:00

NOTE - Sorry for the image sizes

Round three of Saimoe has already started. Before getting to round three, a good number of expected results happened, so I won't bother with going to a analysis of round 2. Rather, what *is* surprising is Block G, of which two of it's matches went into ties. And unlike "The Damn Coin" that the MegaTokyo AGP uses to determine who wins ties - both characters who are tied advance to the next round regardless. And there wasn't just one tie this year, it happened twice. In the same block. It'll be interesting how much Eruru will affect the very anticipated and fabled 2006 rematch between Haruhi and Yuki - as well as how much Ushio will affect the votes against Ritsu and Mihoko.

There are also supposed fears that this tournament will turn into a Saki-fest with the possibility of six Saki characters making the top 8.

I'm here to tell you there is no way in hell that's going to happen.

Chiaki Minami - who won her round three matchup against Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke is no slouch when it comes to votes. Isumi Saginomiya might be the surprise dark horse to win it all to come out of Block B and knock out Yuuki/Fuuko. Momoko will have her hands full against 3 top SaiMoe veterans in Kyou, Mion, and Louise. Koromo will have to face Amu (my personal favorite to win this year's SaiMoe) while CAPTAIN Mihoko will have to fend off not only Ritsu and Ushio this round, but also quite possibly Yuki Nagato (who should be expected to repeat her win over Haruhi, with Eruru being a vote-eating bottom-feeder). That's also not to mention the two strongest Saki characters (Saki herself and Nodoka Haramura) are in the same block and are expected to face each other "Nanoha vs Fate" style.

If there is a series out there to watch out for besides Saki, it's going to be Hayate no Gotoku. They have a good chance of possibly taking four of the eight blocks with some of their top characters and possibly send some of the key Saki characters home packing. Isumi has already won her round three match and is primed to reach the top 8. Ayumu and Hinagiku, while facing stiff competition from Yui and Minori - could potentially win the block, especially Hinagiku who traditionally is strong in SaiMoe every year. Hinagiku is always a perennial threat every year to win it all, and if she makes it to top 8, there is a good shot she might win it all. Maria is also having a tremendous run this year, going much further this year then her usual first round exits though she faces stiff competition from Azuza, Nagisa, and Taiga. Lastly, one of the very last matches of round four features Nagi Senzenen going at it against Saki Miyanaga. It would go a long way to completely deflating the Saki group if she were to win the block by beating both Saki and Nodoka (respectively probably the top 2 Saki characters in the tournament still).

In any case, here are some of the notable matchups (images courtesy of AnimeSaimoe.org). By the way, it just so happens to be the last four days:

These two matchups are all about straight up firepower. Hinagiku is round 1's top vote getter, while Yui is round 2's top vote getter (and currently the overall top vote getter) so it'll be without question the vote totals should be over the top. However, who will bring in the most firepower is going to be the question. Azuza vs Nagisa is no match to forget about as well - both of them could be upset favorites in the block.

This is a straight up 2v2 matchup between two series favorites as Hayate no Gotoku girls Ayumu and Maria face off against the one-two combination of Toradora's Taiga and Minori. The vote totals will reflect the series then it will the characters in these two matchups, and expect a lot of ASCII art flying around featuring the two pairs together.

Despite expecting Nodocchi to Saki-roll Miyako out of the tournament, this day is still interesting because of the intrigue the Yuki v Haruhi v Eruru matchup is going to bring. Can Eruruu play off Yuki and Haruhi and sneak a win? Can Haruhi overcome her tragic round three loss from 2006 to Yuki? Or will Yuki get this key win and once again come into the top 8, and instill fear into her competitors as Yuki "Battleship" Nagato as she once did in 2006 before she lost to eventual 2006 champion Suiseisuki? The results can provide some very interesting answers.

The last day features double Saki, with Saki herself facing Nagi (and despite not showing the vote totals to beat Nagi, she should be the one favored to win in the match heading in) as well as the triple threat match between Mihoko, Ushio, and Ritsu. I would expect the Saki characters to Saki-roll their way to their respective block finals, but these will not be easy matches.

Lastly, a quick note - Yuuki, Taiga, Louise, and Nagi are still in it for KugiRie. This is actually not a surprise to this point, considering that the latter three is this year's KugiRie Tsundere triad. It'll be interesting if this is the year KugiRie can finally get over the hump and finally get one of her girls to be this year's champion after coming oh-so-close back in 2007 with Nagi. Yukarin is already out of this year's tournament - and has not had a character place top 8 since Rika Furude's championship back in 2007. Nana Mizuki is down to her last character (Utau Hoshina), and has not had a top 8 character since Fate's 2006 run where she lost in the finals in a shocker to Suiseisuki. KugiRie has the most girls still in the tournament with four, with Yui Horie at 3. Minori Chihara is at 2 along with Rie Tanaka. The rest are all down to their final characters - as expected at around this time.

There is still a lot of intrigue in the tournament in play - and we'll see how the Japanese play it out.

SaiMoe 2009 Round 2

2009-09-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

Hinagiku of Hayate no Gotoku - who led all girls in total votes for round 1 with 870.
((EDIT - Image blown up, sorry.))

Round 1 ended yesterday and Round 2 started this morning. So it's time to take account to what actually happened in Round 1 and analyze what may happen in round 2.

Round 1 Analysis - First off, make sure to click the link here to see the latest results from SaiMoe, including the action from round 1. The image is courtesy of AnimeSaimoe.org - awesome website and great work over there!

Okay, lets start off with the characters who saw first round exits, and there is two major ones. The one most obviously to get knocked out in surprise is Mio Akiyama of K-On! who got knocked out by Saimoe veteran Kana Minami of Minami-ke. First off, hats off to Kana for being able to knock out one of the most favored-to-win candidates to win it all this year. Though, you do have to wonder if Kana got her votes because of her actual Moe of if some other force was in play in the background looking to knock Mio out early before she got to the later rounds.(A match between her and Nagi of Kannagi would've been pretty epic.) Quite surprisingly, K-On! girls dropped to 3 after seeing Tsumugi lose to stealth Momoko of Saki, and Ui Hirasawa lose to Amu Hinamori. Sawako-sensei also lost but her loss was expected.

The other girl to get knocked out early is none other then defending champion Kagami Hiiragi, who received a first round bounce from Mikuru Asahina this year. This marks yet another year of Saimoe where the Defending champion has failed to defend her title the following year.

It was surprising to me to see Haruka Nogizaka take a first round exit as well despite being a very early Saimoe 2009 favorite. Her sister though did make the next round. Aside from that, the matches for the most part were pretty ho-hum. No major surprises, other then a almost knock-out by Izumi of Hayate no Gotoku over Koromo of Saki. Koromo got a VERY late 3 additional votes and managed to squeeze past Izumi - which would have been a major upset considering Koromo is probably going to be a favorite to get the title as well (though not so much as fellow Saki castmate, Nodoka).

How I fared in quessing round 1 this year:
Block A - 5 out of 12
Block B - 10 out of 12
Block C - 5 out of 12
Block D - 9 out of 12
Block E - 10 out of 12
Block F - 9 out of 12
Block G - 11 out of 12
Block H - 8 out of 12
Total - 67 out of 96 (.684 correct prediction)

After having a fairly rocky start in Block A and C, I came back pretty strong in the remaining blocks. Actually, I did better this year then I did last year. My combined Round 1 lifetime total is 129 out of 192, for a average of .672. Not bad, but not so good either. Hopefully next year I can up my total correct to above 75.

Now, for that important round 2 analysis:

Block A's matches are pretty ho-hum non-exciting, with no major contenders in the block (not that there was any to begin with) but they should also prove to be some of the more closer matches since some of the characters are close overall in moeness. It'll be pretty much fan-block voting for the most part.

Block B should prove to be slightly interesting, if only to see Yuno and Fuuko go at it, which we'll see what will happen to Kana after knocking out Mio last round. Isumi did knock out her older sister last round as well, so a little bit of revenge for Kana and the Minami-ke folks.

Block C has a interesting 3-match starting off with Hisa, Louise, and Mio going at it. There is plenty of split votes going on with both the Haruhi faction and the Saki faction - though the Saki faction handled their last split vote pretty well. (Block H-01)

Block D should be intersting if only to see the Hayate no Gotoku folks go at Koromo again - this time with Sakuya. Koromo managed to Haitei Raoyue her way out of round 1, but can she do it again versus yet another Hayate character? Should be interesting to watch.

Block E might prove to have some surprises. We'll see top-vote getter Hinagiku push for top-vote getter for this round again against a To-Love-Ru split vote, while Yui of K-On! go at it against 2007 champion Rika Furude. Will Rika get knocked out in round 2 yet again? The match between Miyuki Takara, Teru Miyanaga, and Minori Kushieda should also prove to be entertaining. While it should be assumed that Minori should run away with the match, her round 1 total is only 7 votes over Teru (who has practically no screentime in her series, btw.) I also wouldn't expect the Lucky Star people to lay down as well and expect Miyuki to bottom-feed votes from both girls.

Block F should prove interesting as we'll see Taiga Aisaka go against fellow castmate Ami Kawashima - and they'll have to be careful with Mikuru in the match, who only got 736 votes to knock out last year's Saimoe champion. It'll be interesting to see if fans will abandon Mikuru, or if we'll even see the Toradora faction manage to push one of their two main stars in this matchup through to the third round. Should be some nice drama in that match.

Block G has a major match between Mikoto "Biribiri" Misaka versus Mihoko "CAPTAIN!" Fukuji and it should be a pretty good match going in. Not to be overlooked, but Ritsu and Ushio going at it on the other side of that part of the block should be interesting as well. This block should prove interesting next round where we might see a 2006 rematch between Yuki "Battleship" Nagato and Haruhi "God" Suzumiya. Yuki won that match, 1112 to 991.

Finally, Block H is the holder of this round's major matchup between Rena Ryuuguu and Nagi Senzenin - which is a rematch of their matchup back in the Semifinals of 2007 where Nagi defeated Rena, 1301-1209. Poor Yumiko has no chance in that matchup. We'll also see the first major test for AnimeSuki's favorite-to-win, Nodoka Haramura as she'll go against Yoshika Miyafuji of Strike Witches and Zange of Kannagi. It wouldn't be a surprise to see the block final become Saki versus Nodoka, though whoever wins between Nagi and Rena will have a say in that.

If you need some important match dates - the most important match date to circle is 9/13/09 (9/12/09 for us in America). That day has the match between Yui Hirasawa and Rika Furude, as well as the fatal three-way match between Mikuru, Taiga, and Ami. A close second should be 9/17 in a epic rematch between Rena and Nagi.

BlizzCon 2009 starts tomorrow!

2009-08-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

BlizzCon 2009 incoming.

SaiMoe 2009 - Round One

2009-08-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

(Above taken from Moetron.com)

Saimoe 2009 has finally begun, and here is my overall analysis of the first round (no predictions though, those come by block as they come up).

The very first thing you should notice is that this year, there are four girls in the first round instead of three (and the first matchup in A1-1, who traditionally has a extra character, has moved up to five and B1-1 now goes up to five as well). This is a significant change, as the added number as upped the total from 289 combatants to 387 combatants. A total of 98 extra girls have suddenly been added to the fray, ready to wreck havoc to all who try to predict winners. And I could understand why the number has been increased - this year's SaiMoe is one of the most deepest fields in SaiMoe history. There are a number of characters within the top-40 who can win this thing. And this year, in the second thing to be noticed, is a interesting year in that there is no series like Rozen Maiden or Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha who have a full stable of girls who repeatedly make top-64 every year. The only two series who are even close to the status of Rozen Maiden and Nanoha are Hayate no Gotoku and Higarashi - but characters from both of those series do not consistently make it past round two every year. This volatility makes for predicting that much harder to tell who will advance and who will be defeated in shame. I always knew the "Post-Nanoha" SaiMoe time was going to come, but I never thought it'd be this year.

That said, there has been some interesting developments during the preliminary process. One of those is the popularity of the mahjong fanservice show "Saki", which has seen many of it's characters take first place or place top three in most of the preliminary rounds. How much strength the Saki girls have in this year's SaiMoe is a complete unknown - and easily this year's dark horse series. Another thing of note is the love for Mikoto Misaka of "To Aru Majitsu no Index" - and her clones. Not only is Misaka herself in there, but two of her more prominent clones and even the whole "clone army" have made it in - and they're all in different brackets. This year's Saimoe most obviously is concentrated on new series to have come out over the past year - from early favorite Haruka Nogizaka to mid-favorite Taiga Aisaka (MT AGP09 Champion) to late-favorites Mio Akiyama and Yui Hirasawa.

Well, here are some of the first round matchups and girls to look out for:

Match A2-1 - Maya Kihara (Toradora!) vs Tamaki Kousaka (To Heart 2) vs Minato Minase (Akane iro ni Somaru Saka) vs Fatina (Tower of Druaga) - A very crazy and interesting first day matchup between four equally moe characters. I have predicted a Minato win here, but any four of these girls can win and move on to the next round. This is easily the example of just how crazy this year's SaiMoe will be.

Utau Hoshina (Shugo Chara!) - I predicted last year that she is going to be the eventual replacement character for the fabled Fate Tessarossa from Nanoha, considering both are blonde haired girls voiced by top seiyuu Nana Mizuki. This year, with no Nanoha characters in sight, will Utau truly be the replacement or will she falter like she did in being forced to matchup with one of the Minami-ke sisters. Her advancement this year is paramount to Shugo Chara fans, especially since Amu in the D group has a huge early test in the first round (see below).

Match B1-4 - Yuno (Hidamari Sketch) vs Tsugumi Aoba (Kannagi) - a matchup of top-40 girls in the first round. The other two girls (Mawari and Setsuna) will easily be overshadowed in a battle between one of the newest perennial all-stars in Yuno versus one of the early season favorites in Tsugumi. Let me tell you - this will make for good popcorn and fireworks.

Match B2-2 - Kana Minami (Minami-ke) vs Mio Akiyama (K-On!) vs Hiro (Hidamari Sketch) - Another matchup of top-50 characters to go at it in this first round. Mio is easily the favorite in this fatal four way, but there is no telling how the vote splits will come out with one of the Minami-ke sisters who constantly make round 2 is in there, as well as one of the four main Hidamari girls in Hiro. It's a huge early test for Mio fans everywhere - and I feel sorry for poor Maria from ZSZS - she doesn't to be deserved to be sacrificed like this.

Match C1-2 - Sae (Hidamari Sketch) vs Louise De La Valliere (Zero no Tsukaima) - two perennial girls going at it, though one has been stagnant for awhile while the other has seen her popularity drop with the rise of Taiga Aisaka. Should see Sae win, but a Louise win would not be surprising.

Match C1-4 - Mion Sonozaki (Higurashi) vs Yukine Miyazawa (CLANNAD ~After Story~) - A interesting matchup to watch out for, Mion should be the odds favorite coming in but Yuikine is coming off a great CLANNAD series with one of the more memorable storylines in that series.

Match C2-5 - Chika (Hidamari Sketch) vs Kotomi Ichinose (CLANNAD ~After Story~) - Another interesting match to watch out for, with the odds favorite going to Kotomi. However, Chika can't easily be dismissed with two factors going in for her - the fact that she was not in the tournament last year and the fact she is voiced by top seiyuu (and Tsundere queen) Rie Kugimiya. Whoever wins will earn a date versus Tsumugi Kotobuki of K-On! in the next round.

Match D1-4 - Alicia Melchiott (Valkyria Chronicles) vs Akiha Shishidou (Sora Kake Girl) - A match between two main girls in two very interesting series. Neither girl is a clear cut favorite as well, and we could see Yakumo (School Rumble) and Rin (Kodomo no Jikan) either take votes or even win in this matchup. Should a least be a good mid-august matchup to look at.

Match D1-6 - Amu Hinamori (Shugo Chara!) vs Ui Hirasawa (K-On!) - Out of all the matchups in the first round, this easily should be the most anticipated matchup of the round. The other two girls are quite forgetable, making this matchup practically a one on one matchup between the spiritual successor in a long line of Mahou Schoolgirl heroines by the likes of Sakura Kinamoto and Nanoha Takamachi facing against one of the best younger-sister (and very moe) characters in a long time in Ui Hirasawa - who will also have KyoAni voters pulling for her. Both can easily pull 500+ votes, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see over a thousand, if not two thousand for this single matchup. This should be one of the best first round matchups in quite a long time.

Match E1-5 - Yui Hirasawa (K-On!) vs Yaya Yuiki (Shugo Chara) - This match will only be interesting if Amu Hinamori would lose in her match to Ui Hirasawa. The reason for that is this match is the earliest chance for revenge votes on a Amu loss. I would still believe whether Amu wins or loses that Yui would be the expected favorite, but this matchup can be interesting with a Amu loss.

Match E1-6 - Rika Furude (Higurashi) vs Ryou Fujibayashi (CLANNAD ~After Story~) - Another battle of top-50 characters, with the 2007 SaiMoe champion in Rika going against one of the main CLANNAD girls in Ryou. Both are technically on the downturn, but this should still provide a excellent match.

Match F1-4 - Mikuru Asahina (Melancholy of Haruhi-chan) vs Kagami Hiiragi (Lucky Star) - A very interesting matchup between two KyoAni stars. It can't help Mikuru right now while the Endless Eight arc of Haruhi Suzumiya is going on, but it should well over and done by the time this matchup rolls around - which will make it tough for Defending Champion Kagami to handle. And whoever gets out of this matchup as the victor has a date with two of the three main Toradora girls in Taiga Aisaka and Ami Kawashima. And getting by that you still have to face Maria of Hayate no Gotoku next round, and then either Nagisa (Clannad), Mion (Higurashi), Mizore (Rosario + Vampire), or Asuza (K-On!) in the round after that. By the way, need I remind everyone that there has NEVER been a successful title defense in the history of SaiMoe. Looks like a tough climb for the Defending Champion.

Match G1-3 - Satoko Houjou (Higurashi) vs Yuki Nagato (Melancholy of Haruhi-chan) - A interesting matchup between "Godslayer" Yuki Nagato who placed top 8 back in 2006 by beating her fellow cast-mate and leader Haruhi Suzumiya (and will have to beat her again to get into the top 16) versus a perennial favorite in Satoko Houjou. A interesting sidenote to look out for is Nanami Nishijou of Chaos;Head, who might end up stealing votes from either one.

Saki Miyanaga (Saki) - The main girl and title character of "Saki", with the surprising popularity of this series, it'll be interesting how many votes she gets this round and whether she'll have the firepower to be a top 16 candidate as she'll have to face Nagi (Hayate no Gotoku) or Rena (Higurashi) - two top tier perennial favorites in round three if she gets that far.

Match H1-4 - Sheryl Nome (Macross Frontier) vs Nagi Sennzen (Hayate no Gotoku) - Nagi easily is the favorite in this matchup and should win in a landslide, but this matchup is really the only interesting matchup in the block as there shouldn't be too many surprises or high powered battles in the last block. The next round should prove to be much more interesting.

Well, that's the rundown of first round of SaiMoe this year. A lot of things to look out for over the next month as SaiMoe cuts the fat from 385 girls to 96 girls. I'm not going to get around to writing up individual matchup reports (instead I will do that at the MegaTokyo AMC forums if I have the time) but hopefully next round I'll get around to doing that. Before I forget!

2009-07-29T18:43:00.000-07:00

Ah, KyoAni - I hate you.

Do you really want to see all of Haruhi season 2 so far? Here it is, in 36 seconds...

This has been so upsetting that every episode has been the same episode so far that.. well even "he" is getting mad now.

KyoAni - please stop this madness and just end this arc already.

2009-07-28T13:29:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to get this in here -
http://forums.megatokyo.com/index.php?showtopic=1734022

The thread above has convention reports from me during the 2009 San Diego Comic Convention. Being at Comic-Con is always a event to not miss. It makes (or breaks) the rest of the year for me. It's such a fun event, and something I wish everyone who wants to go - could go to. Being able to talk to 125,999 other people about the most random of random stuff is the very core of what SDCC is. I'll be back again for next year, and I already can't wait.

And before I forget - a link to this year's Comic-Con photos that I took this year:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v374/AnimeGamer/Comic-Con%202009/

By the way, yet another new template for the blog. Hopefully this will look cleaner then the previous looks. I probably will not make the separate blog I was going to make, so I'll just be redesigning this blog yet again.

2009-06-20T01:17:00.000-07:00

It may be quite too early to perhaps talk about Saimoe 2009, but the cutoff date for this year's eligibility is coming right up (June 30th) so why not talk about early favorites right now?

For those of you who simply don't know what Saimoe is, I suggest you stop reading this blog post and type in Saimoe into your Wikipedia search field and read up on it.

And for those who need a reminder (and because I didn't really give the results on my blog before) - last year's winner and current defending champion is Kagami Hiiragi of Lucky Star, who defeated her twin sister Tsukasa for the title. And pretty much it's a given that this year will not see a repeat champion. No champion since the start of Saimoe has ever gone on to repeat. As a matter of fact, only one girl (Nanoha Takamachi, 2005 Champion) has ever even gotten back to the top 8 after reaching the top 8 in any of the previous years. While that isn't a concern with the Bamboo Blade girls gone (cutting the top 8 by 2), I highly doubt we'll see three Clannad girls in the top 8 again, though they'll probably make a good run. With the major lack of new material, I wouldn't expect the Hiiragi sisters to do as well this year as well. That really leaves Hinagiku as the only one who has a outside shot of making it back into the top 8 - but like with all things in this tournament, it depends on who you face as you get to the top.

Of course, there are the seasoned veterans of Saimoe in much the same vein that we expect the same veterans to do well in Sasuke. Saimoe's "Makoto Nagano" is very much the aforementioned Nanoha Takamachi. With a return to loli-form, we'll see how well she does along with fellow friend/rival Fate Tessarossa, who also does well every year. Shana of Shakugan no Shana will also be back, along with fellow Kugimiya holy trinity members Louise of Zero no Tsukaima and Nagi Sennzen of Hayate no Gotoku. Also making their returns is the cast of Haruhi Suzumiya - and while Haruhi herself backdoored her way in via cameo in Lucky Star, this year is finally the year we see new episodes of Haruhi and I wouldn't expect this time around for Haruhi to get bounced in the first round. I expect as more of the new episodes come out, the bigger the boosts will be for Haruhi and her brigade. The Hidamari Sketch girls will be back as well - they had very strong showings last year despite being kept out of the top 8. To finally add on to the veteran list - I couldn't forget to mention Amu Hinamori. Amu had a great showing last year, and I expect her to build on that, depending on who she ends up facing in her particular brackets. Japan loves it's classical mahou shoujo heroines, as evidenced by the first Saimoe champion, Sakura Kinomoto. I would expect at least another good showing.

Now, every year there is the new blood that makes big waves. Bamboo Blade last year made a major impact, and many characters have won Saimoe before only to not even be around the next year when their eligibility is up. This year's list is quite impressive, perhaps even more so then last years. One of the casts to look out for is the Haruka Nogizaka cast - while I don't think all of them will advance very far, I would at least suspect Haruka herself to get pretty far. The Chaos Head cast should also be interesting to note. Two series stand out among the newcomers this year however, and should provide some really great runs this year. The first is the cast of Toradora - headlined by the Rie Kugimiya-voiced Taiga Aisaka (who just so happened to win this year's MegaTokyo AGP.) The main three girls - Taiga, Minori, and Ami should get very far this year, if not one or two of them reaching top 8. Especially Taiga, since generally new Kugimiya-tsundere characters reach the top 8 or higher in their first year of eligibility. The other cast to look out for is the K-On! cast, which just recently ended. Headlined by Yui Hirasawa and Mio Akiyama, I would expect much of this cast to do fairly well as the new KyoAni IP to come out. There are some hidden dark horses in this series as well with Ui and Azusa.

There is a lot of new names to pop up this year, and with a field of over 200 girls, we'll see how well some of these girls do this year. If I had to make a early prediction on who would win, I would probably go with Taiga Aisaka in a narrow victory.

Well, enough chatter of Saimoe tonight. There will be more talk when the Saimoe brackets come out.

2009-06-19T02:10:00.001-07:00

K-On! is now over, sadly. Well, there is one more episode, but it's more a epilogue episode to this week's finale episode. Sadly, this series for a KyoAni series really underperformed - a lot of good potential moments got wasted. But at least it left some really good songs - here's a piano version of "My Love is a Stapler" by Josh Garrado that I've been listening to non-stop:

I hope the budget cuts that KyoAni pulled on K-On! make Haruhi a whole lot better.

EDIT - Made a mp3 out of the video above, for everyone's listening pleasure:
http://rapidshare.com/files/247587215/K-On_-_My_Love_is_a_Stapler__Piano_-_joshagarrado_.mp3.html

2009-06-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

Posting this only to remind myself more then anything, though anyone else is welcome to copy-paste this elsewhere. Thanks to chevluh on the Megatokyo forums for posting this.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya air-dates in Japan (includes new second season episodes that are mixed in to the re-air of the first season.)

Apr 02 ep01 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 1
Apr 09 ep02 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2
Apr 16 ep03 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 3
Apr 23 ep04 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 4
Apr 30 ep05 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 5
May 07 ep06 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 6
May 14 ep07 The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
May 21 ep08 Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody (New)
May 28 ep09 Mysterique Sign
Jun 04 ep10 Remote Island Syndrome Part1
Jun 11 ep11 Remote Island Syndrome Part2
Jun 18 ep12 Endless Eight (New)
Jun 25 ep13 The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 1 (New)
Jul 02 ep14 The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 (New)
Jul 09 ep15 The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 3 (New)
Jul 16 ep16 The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 4 (New)
Jul 23 ep17 The Adventures of Asahina Mikuru Episode 00
Jul 30 ep18 Live A Live
Aug 07 ep19 The Day of Sagittarius
Aug 14 ep20 Someday in the rain
Aug 21 ep21 The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya 1 (New)
Aug 28 ep22 The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 (New)
Sep 03 ep23 The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya 3 (New)
Sep 10 ep24 The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya 4 (New)
Sep 17 ep25 The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya 5 (New)
Sep 24 ep26 Charmed at First Sight Lover (New)
Oct 1 ep27 Snow Mountain Syndrome Pt 1 (New)
Oct 8 ep28 Snow Mountain Syndrome Pt 2 (New)

2009-06-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

Small update again, added my XBOX Live account on the left side here. Now if only they would just let you have the option to shut off the pay account online instead of having to call them every time you want to shut it off. >_>

2009-05-31T07:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, unfortunately I'm a sucker for free stuff.

Please click many times, thanks.

2009-05-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Wow, been a while since I updated.

Well, I'm now on twitter at http://twitter.com/animegamer0 and I plan on at least putting a new twit once a day. For a English major graduate, that shouldn't be too hard, right?

Anyway, I'm just posting really to announce that I may have a new blog soon. *gasp*. NO, I'm not leaving this blog that I have owned for seven years (god, it's been seven years?!) to make a new one at wordpress - more like the new blog I'm going to make is going to be geared toward my commentaries, observations, and news reporting of the various anime, games, and conventions I follow, play, watch, or go to.

That would turn this blog into more of my personal life dealings over the long term, with some link jabs to the other blog. Of course, my minute to minute stuff will be through twitter. Currently I do NOT receive messages through twitter on my phone. I plan on only getting twitter messages during conventions - like the San Diego Comic-Con or BlizzCon.

Anyway, I won't be leaving blogger.com anytime soon and I will still list this blog as my personal homepage. I'll just be running a new blog somewhere else. And hopefully it wont fall flat on it's face like the last one.

2009-04-03T02:58:00.001-07:00

DAMN YOU KYOANI! Those guys have done it again!

Yet another hit from the creators of Haruhi and Lucky Star...

And, yes a cover band already for the op! Accessible only to those with Nico Douga accounts though:
【ニコニコ動画】【けいおん！】K-ON! OP 「Cagayake!GIRLS」を弾いてみたよー

2009-03-27T11:17:00.001-07:00

Just going to make a quick blurb - my last living grandparent, my grandma on my mother's side, Virginia Dejesus - has died on the morning of Wednesday, March 25th. She was 82 years old, and she lived through the Japanese occupation of the Philippines - which is a amazing feat. I technically still have a grandmother on my dad's side, but she's not my biological grandmother and is the second wife to my grandfather on that side. Still, hearing the stories that my grandparents have lived through is quite amazing.

So anyway, that's all I'm going to say for now. Wish I could go see her buried in the Philippines but with the tough economic times (and my emptying wallet), I can't afford to miss my first week of work for the Padres.

I'll miss you grandma.

Mood: Sad

2009-03-19T20:27:00.001-07:00

Geez it's been awhile. Anyway - enough of my mugshot at Blizzcon. Just gonna post this image and leave this link and leave.

Mood: Bleh

2008-10-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

Yea, I fail at the Ranka Lee Ki~ra pose.

Anyway, BlizzCon was a blast. Oh wait, you really don't wanna hear about the realm meetups for Ravenholdt and Eonar, do you? You already have seen the contests, the concert, and the awesome matches, right? You just wanna see pictures. Okay, here are pictures:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v374/AnimeGamer/BlizzCon%202008/

Have fun and enjoy them. T'was a blast to be there this year, and I hope I can get a ticket (with friends this time) next year.

2008-10-10T23:47:00.000-07:00

Ah BlizzCon. I'm here at a Howard Johnson hotel typing this out on the friday-saturday night break from the con. It's been a fun convention, not thinking about the super lines and such aside. I'm sure you've all seen the news coming out of the con, so I'll just keep it to a minimum for the most part. I didn't play any Wrath of the Lich King, since im in the beta. I got one hack at the latest build of StarCraft 2, and it's amazing. I'm hoping to get more playing time on SC2 tomorrow. Diablo 3 is probably even more amazing to me - I love the newly announced Wizard class (AKA, the IMMAFIREMAHLAZZA class.) Though, it's obvious it's still alpha when the Witch Hunter is missing half it's upper talents, and the only rune system working is for the Wizard class. Still, I've been highly impressed.

I have a feeling my friends will be playing the StarCraft 2 beta more then I will. Well, I wanna hit the sack and get some sleep - see you after the con!

2008-10-09T07:01:00.000-07:00

(Haruka Nogizaka - New Major 2009 SaiMoe powerhouse.)

Ugh, fell behind on the SaiMoe posts. Been making predictions still though through the MegaTokyo forums.

Anyway, on to results:

A2-1 = Miss (Haruka win, Rika loss)
A2-2 = Miss (Fuuko win, Fate loss)
Next round matchup: Haruka vs Fuuko

A2-3 = Correct (San win)
A2-4 = Miss (Hanyuu win, C.C. loss)
Next round matchup: San vs Hanyuu

B2-1 = Correct (Luna win)
B2-2 = Correct (Kirino win)
Next round matchup: Luna vs Kirino

B2-3 = Miss (Mikan win, Aika loss)
B2-4 = Correct (Hiro win)
Next round matchup: Mikan vs Hiro

C2-1 = Correct (Amu win)
C2-2 = Correct (Kagami win)
Next round matchup: Amu vs Kagami

C2-3 = Miss (Kyou win, Louise loss)
C2-4 = Miss (Kana win, Yuno loss)
Next round matchup: Kyou vs Kana

D2-1 = Correct (Tomoyo win)
D2-2 = Correct (Konata win)
Next round matchup: Tomoyo vs Konata

D2-3 = Correct (Rena win)
D2-4 = Correct (Miyako win)
Next round matchup: Rena vs Miyako

E2-1 = Correct (Shana win)
E2-2 = Miss (Nanoha win, Ranka loss)
Next round matchup: Shana vs Nanoha

E2-3 = Correct (Chiaki win)
E2-4 = Correct (Tamaki win)
Next round matchup: Chiaki vs Tamaki

F2-1 = Miss (Hatena win, Saki loss)
F2-2 = Correct (Nagisa win)
Next round matchup: Hatena vs Nagisa

F2-3 = Correct (Aono win)
F2-4 = Correct (Hayate win)
Next round matchup: Aono vs Hayate

G2-1 = Correct (Akari win)
G2-2 = Correct (Chihiro win)
Next round matchup: Akari vs Chihiro

G2-3 = Correct (Nagi win)
G2-4 = Correct (Tsukasa win)
Next round matchup: Nagi vs Tsukasa

H2-1 = Miss (Noe win, Isumi loss)
H2-2 = Correct (Suzu win)
Next round matchup: Noe vs Suzu

H2-3 = Correct (Hinagiku win)
H2-4 = Miss (Eika win, Tiffania loss)
Next round matchup: Hinagiku vs Eika

So, now that that's all done, here are some stats:
I went 22 out of 32 matches correct for the round, for a average of .687 (roughly 2 out of every 3 matches correct.) My total record now is 82 out of 128 matches, for a guess correct average of .640 (still roughly 2 out of every 3 matches correct). The total average won't really change much now that we are getting to 16 > 8 > 4 > 2 > 1 (total of 31 more matches total) and getting closer to crowning a new SaiMoe champion.

My picks for the next three days, since I'm heading out to BlizzCon for the weekend:

Fuuko - in a tight matchup with a equally big upset winner in Haruka. Both girls overcame clear SaiMoe favorites to get to this point. (Those being Haruka over Rika Furude, the 2007 SaiMoe champ, and Fuuko over Fate Tessarossa, the 2006 runner-up.) Fuuko to me has that "Suiseisuki" factor going for her, in that she may be getting random support from people who just hate SaiMoe and wish to just mess around with the tournament. Besides, DESU is not too far from DOZO.

Hiro - should be a good match, but with the early loss of Sae in round one, and Yuno in round two, and possibly Miyako to Rena this round, I doubt that Hiro will get the bounce this round, at least. I will believe there will be a lot of support to push Hiro through to the next round.

(Image to be edited in later - Luna Edomae(Seto no Hanayome) vs Kirino Chiba(Bamboo Blade))
Kirino - should be a bandwagon win here for Kirino. The Bamboo Blade bandwagon has been silently chugging a long, and Luna will be a casualty here.

(Image to be edited in later - Hanyuu (Higurashi) vs San Seto (Seto no Hanayome))
Hanyuu - folding to the Higurashi bandwagon here. Nearly all the Higurashi girls have been eliminated, save Hanyuu and Rena. I would think all the Higurashi fans will be uniting even more to push the bandwagon along.

(Image to be edited in later - Amu Hinamori (Shugo Chara!) vs Kagami Hiiragi (Lucky Star))
Amu - this will be a very high-powered and highly contested matchup between a new SaiMoe favorite (already beating two perennial round two favorites, Sakuya and Vita at the same time) and a big powerhouse favorite from last year who was eliminated just before the final 8. I'm going with the upset win here, as Kagami is favored to win. I just think Amu has "that" quality in her this year that Nanoha Takamachi and Sakura Kinamoto had when they won in their respective years. Japan responds well to new magical girl loli moeblobs, and Amu fits that bill.

(Image to be edited in later - Rena Ryuugi (Higurashi) vs Miyako (Hidamari Sketch))
Rena - I really just don't see Rena getting beat in this matchup. Miyako is a great character, and the character I wish to see advance, but Rena is a absolute powerhouse character. More so now that nearly the entire Higurashi cast has been eliminated.

All the round three matches (save for one) are all going to be pretty solid slobber-knocker contests. I'm sure this round may be one that will go into SaiMoe lore.

2008-10-01T15:10:00.000-07:00

Been lazy as of late. Gomen ne. Now a Copy-pasta from myself on the MT forums:

my personal match results:

A2-1 = Miss (Haruka win, Rika loss)
A2-2 = Miss (Fuuko win, Fate loss)
Next round matchup: Haruka vs Fuuko

A2-3 = Correct (San win)
A2-4 = Miss (Hanyuu win, C.C. loss)
Next round matchup: San vs Hanyuu

B2-1 = Correct (Luna win)
B2-2 = Correct (Kirino win)
Next round matchup: Luna vs Kirino

B2-3 = Miss (Mikan win, Aika loss)
B2-4 = Correct (Hiro win)
Next round matchup: Mikan vs Hiro

C2-1 = Correct (Amu win)
C2-2 = Correct (Kagami win)
Next round matchup: Amu vs Kagami

C2-3 = Miss (Kyou win, Louise loss)
C2-4 = Miss (Kana win, Yuno loss)
Next round matchup: Kyou vs Kana

D2-1 = Correct (Tomoyo win)
D2-2 = Correct (Konata win)
Next round matchup: Tomoyo vs Konata

D2-3 = Correct (Rena win)
D2-4 = Correct (Miyako win)
Next round matchup: Rena vs Miyako

Currently sitting at 10 for 16 for the round (.625 avg), for a total combined 72 for 112 for round one and two (.642 avg). Essentially, I'm on pace to have every 2 out of 3 matches correct. Which is decent, but could be better.

And currently, E2-1 amd F2-1 has been decided. Here are my predictions for those two matches plus today's E2-2 and F2-2:

Yesterday's winners were Shana and Yousei Hatena (AKA the Question Fairy). Yes, I'm still shaking my head on why Japan is so obsessed with a stupid question fairy, but that's SaiMoe for ya.

2008-09-23T16:46:00.000-07:00

Getting into this issue via a MegaTokyo topic brought me back to making a blog post on this, because I feel strongly on this. I hope you people are prepared for a VERY long blog post.

First of all, Hulu is great. Visit it, and visit it often. Heck, drop by Crunchyroll while you are at it. Sorry Europe, you get the short end of the stick.

Anyway, let me requote all the things I have said on the topic of "Legal Online Distribution".

From Akihabana's comment section:

American anime distributors for a long time now have been trying to tackle the problem without alienating their own customers and have basically failed. Sadly, if Japan decides to finally crack down on fansubbers, the subbers that remain will go deeper underground and the international otaku community at large will eventually die off with it.

If anything, the solution is perhaps the answer that GONZO has come up with in subbing their own anime and putting it online for the community at large in a ad-revenue format.

I don't want to elaborate more because this is a very touchy issue everywhere; I just hope Japan can find a way to make anime and make a profit while doing it so we can get more quality anime.

-------------------------------------------------

That's good to hear that GONZO has done well with the experiment. I hope they continue to do that with ALL their future releases as well.

I'll get into my views of fansubbing, since it's possible that fans in Japan who speak and write English may read this.

I think the big next step for the Japanese Animation industry at large is to move into a "touchless product" formats such as ad-revenue streaming and pay-to-download torrents and begin to embrace the international community. If major studios such as Ghibli, Gainax, Sunrise, and even (and especially) Kyoto Animation begin doing offical subtitled streaming formats like GONZO has, the fansubbers will die off.

The mission of fansubbing back in the VHS (video cassettes) days (1980 - 1999) was meant to spread Anime outside of Japan. The system to receive fansubbed video tapes was archaic and cumbersome, usually having the fansubber ship the tape themselves and then it getting countlessly copied by friends until it was lost.

Fansubbing was never meant to actually make money or siphon off money revenue from the creators themselves. Fansubbing itself only came about because people were interested in Anime and wanted to know what was said and understand what is going on, and naturally with the rise of the Internet, fansubs just became easier to obtain. Many fansubbers are actually "honorable" - they stop subbing if a US Anime distribution company licenses the series. If the anime industry moves online with all their projects, fansubbers will stop subbing because they don't have to anymore. And to be quite honest, I think fansubbers will thank the Japanese for a possible move like that, because being a fansubber is a thankless job and if you are slow in subbing you are hated by the community at large for being slow.

There is a market for Japanese culture in the Internet world. All that needs to be done is to create the pricing models and the release formats to make it actually work.

And for those wondering about Japanese Manga as well as Korean Manhwa, those are doing well regardless of piracy due to the fact many American fans actually wish to hold Manga and Manhwa in their hands and the relatively cheap cost. There could be 10,000 different releases of Negima out there, but the Negima manga when it's printed and released by offical distributer Del Rey Manga will still do well because the product itself in print format is more desirable then a internet image format, and people are actually willing to pay $5-$12 for a book.

Various people around the world (and not of just this American who is writing this) have varying opinions relating to their region, but the Japanese Anime industry are the ones who are truly in control of it's own fate. I hope those who are in that industry read this and see the potential for not just for great success, but the possibility of great failure as well.

==================================================
From the above linked MegaTokyo topic:

I see the only way around this is that the Japanese Anime industry buckles up and finally expands itself outside of Japan and cut out the middle man (ie, ADV, Funimation, etc.). At least then, there isn't a issue with who has what license in what country, and can do across the board digital releases of their anime without some company wanting to sue because they have distribution rights.

The whole concept of distribution rights is flawed and stupid - and I hope the Japanese see this and loophole around it by just doing it themselves or finding someone who can do across the board distribution instead of just being able to do it in one country.

--------------------------------------------

I think the big issue here is that companies want to sell something "tangible", like DVD's, CD's, and what not. The thing is, as time goes on, those markets are shrinking little by little.

Anime fans used to buy DVDs at $35 a pop, but that takes a toll on a wallet. It forces what we see now, where instead of 4-5 episodes a disc, we get entire boxsets of shows now in order to turn a profit.

The reality is that anime fans are not looking to buy DVD's anymore. They're just too expensive to license, sub, dub (if dubbed), print, and distribute, and force higher prices. Not only that, we have fans now who feel that fansubs give better quality then DVDs. So many of these anime distribution companies have been about the DVD for so long, that they just couldn't adapt to a changing market spearheaded by YouTube and BitTorrent. They're trying to rake in that same amount of cash that they got from the beginning from the DVD age, but that's just not there anymore.

Lets not forget that the turnaround time for online distribution can be up to mere hours after airing, compared to a DVD which at best can show up in two months in a US store.

Legal online distribution is the best bet for a lot of these anime companies. It's just too bad they all have cold feet about it, because there is potential to make money off it.

It's better off then filing for Chapter 5 bankruptcy like ADV might soon.

QUOTE
1. Digital distribution doesn't make much money compared to pretty much every other means of distribution

Sure, it doesn't. Heck, Ad-revenue streams aren't DVDs or what not. Still, it's money worth getting if you can setup a system to do it relatively cheap. Money is money, and money is what helps you make more money.

QUOTE
2. Selling DVDs and merchandise does make money.

Sure, if it's selling. The thing is, if it's selling. The fact is, currently it is not. It's not moving, and that's bad. Which leads to...

QUOTE
3. You need local publishers to sell DVDs and merchandise. Think "Best Buy" and "Wal-mart" and "LOL Topic"

No mention of Suncoast? Oh wait, they filed for Chapter 5. Suncoast is just a victim of bad upper management (who put too much eggs in one basket) and a shrinking US anime DVD market. You sell local if people are willing to buy - the thing is, fansubs as they are, are just better products that you can obtain fairly quickly. Thus, product is not moving, and these companies are losing money because no one is buying anymore due to rampant piracy. And we all know what could happen if you go after your own fans...

QUOTE
4. So when the local publisher wants to do the digital rights, you have to yield (much like how Funi isn't going to license anything that they can't get the digital rights for).

Funimation is smart. They know where the market is headed. It's just sucks because Funimation is being slow about transitioning right now. They understand where they need to go now, it's just sucks that they're slow getting to it somewhat and that only US fans get to benefit. There's money in Europe too (isn't the Euro more then the Dollar?), and apparently the legal work is so bad to get a broad digital license for EU countries that Europe may never get the same services as Americans will from places like Crunchyroll and Hulu. Perhaps that's not Funimations fault, but the European Union's fault for not getting something like that universally squared away yet.

QUOTE
5. It's also hard to enforce your rights globally without local help

It's hard enough to enforce it with local help. What I would think legal global distribution would do is phase out fansubbers (either by hiring them or C&Ding them). Trying to eliminate fansubbers right now would only bring about more fansubbers, because there is a demand for a particular series. However, if the company decides to sub it themselves, there is no incentive for a fansubber to sub it (less drama, less work, more enjoyability for a fansubber for a series) and if they do, the company can go after them and tout their legal alternative (compared to right now, where there really isn't one.)

I don't think the industry can get the money pull it used to, but at least with online distribution it can survive and turn a profit for when markets are better, and something comes a long that is better then online alternatives that is even cheaper, and better.

-------------------------------------------------------

QUOTE (omoikane @ Sep 23 2008, 03:16 PM)
Believe this and you have no credibility.

THe only thing that has much weight as I quoted is that yes, the physical medium market is changing and probably growing smaller by % of population. But that isn't important because the revenue from those sales puts the pissant amount of money companies get from digital distribution to shame.

The bottom line is that until we start paying ~DVD prices for digital downloads, DVDs will always make more money for companies.

The potential to make money in today's market is greatly exaggerated. It will take a large effort (like Hulu, for example) to even begin.

I don't have credibility. The closest I've been to any of these Anime distribution companies is attending their Comic-Con panels in years past. However, this isn't a credibility issue here.

Still, the market is in bad shape right now. Sure, it's a victim of what is turning out to be the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. But what is important is not the fact that "DVD's make more money", but the fact of "are we turning a profit with DVD's." Perhaps right now, they are, marginally.

The thing with companies is that you always look to turn a profit. There is money out there for legal online distribution. Sure, it's chump change. Yet, why is major American television companies like NBC, ABC, CBS, and others putting their stuff online in ad-revenue formats? Because there is profit there for them just for people watching.

It's a matter of getting a system up, and being able to turn a profit while at the same time dealing with illegal online piracy with a legal alternative.

Is there a better solution to bad markets and rampant piracy? Maybe. But at least it's a solution.

The mangled mess that is the Anime industry in the global market is marred by archaic rules, regulations, and laws. Why are anime studios or companies not doing legalized digital subs on a quick release format like fansubs are? Like Omoikane (who I have great respect for) said (he provided the questions and the mini-counter point in the quotes), perhaps the funding or the massive amounts of money from DVD's are just not there. What is there, is that there is profit in Legal Online Distribution if you get a system out there that works. Legal Online Distribution helps to do three things - to get companies profit so they can use that profit to make more anime and get more profit, to stop and prevent fansubbing and illegal pirating, and most of all - provide a legal, industry and fan supported system where fans are happy because they pay for a product that everyone gets a cut out of to encourage them to make more product (AKA anime) to consume, in a short amount of time. Legal Online Distribution is not meant to replace DVD's, as probably as I first thought.

However, there is potential there to do great things with Online Distribution - and perhaps with things like Crunchyroll and Hulu, the industry may be on the right track.

2008-09-23T08:09:00.001-07:00

Wow, Block A sure turned on it's head in a hurry this round. Your winners in Block A's 1 and 2 matches are Haruka Minami and Fuuko Ibuki, and will face each other next round. The winners in Block B's 1 and 2 matches is Luna Edomae and Kirino Chiba, and will face off next round.

However, the big headlines early is the round two knockouts of Defending Champion Rika Furude and perennial favorite and 2006 runner-up, Fate T. Harlaown. Many expected (including myself) that these two will lock horns next round instead of Haruka and Fuuko, but the hate votes are huge this year. Rika lost on complacency of the Higurashi fanbase, combined with what could be seen as strategic voting on the MSLN fanbase's part. Fate lost due to revenge votes by a mad Higurashi fanbase.

I really thought whoever will win Block A will come out of the 1 and 2 matches. However, I don't think that is the case anymore. SaiMoe turns in unpredictable ways, and it showed that true in the past two days. I'm now 2 for 4 for this round.

Copy-pasta that I wrote on the MegaTokyo forums...

A2-3 = San Seto (Seto no Hanayome)
The SnH force has shown me last round that they can get the vote out there. Though, tough choice between her and Murasaki. If they can knock Shion out though...

B2-3 = Aika S. Granzchesta (ARIA the ORIGINATION)
I must be out of my mind making this pick. Yet, I'm making this pick. Over Ryou. Hate votes are a powerful thing, and with Fuuko advancing over Fate, I don't think the MSLN fanbase is none too happy. No offense to Aika though - Aika is moe, after all.

A2-4 = C.C. (Code Geass)
Revenge, Revenge, Revenge. A mad MSLN fanbase will be mad, and a Higurashi fanbase will be sad. Okay, this probably will come down to foreign (i.e. you know, us?) and independent votes on who will advance, and if 4chan's /a/ gets involved in this vote... (so far, teh anon has been quiet in SaiMoe.)

B2-4 = Hiro (Hidamari Sketch x365)
Anything I can do, I can do better. Higurashi hate votes added with a strong Hidamari fanbase will sink Vivio here. Also, the MSLN faithful aren't as much pressing to rally around Vivio in much the same way I think the Higurashi fanbase won't really rally to Hanyuu. Hate votes will be the order of the day, and both these fanbase characters are gonna eat it. Well, the Hidamari fanbase is a new force to be reckoned with as well.

Well, lets see the craziness that is SaiMoe 2008. I made safe bets last round, and it cost me two matches. Making 2 crazy bets here - so I guess it's wait and see to see if it pays off.

2008-09-21T00:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the disappearance. Been busy with work, then tired consistently.

Anyway, Block F results.

Yesterday actually was Saimoe's last day for round 1. 290 anime girls (or things) started the path to become a Moe legend on August 18th, and now by September 20th, 96 girls remain. Since I fell behind...

Block F results.
I went a abysmal 5 for 12 in this block. By far and away my worst predictions of SaiMoe.

Block G predictions.
Block G results.
I went 8 for 12 in this block.

Block H predictions.
Block H results.
I went 6 for 12 in this block.

So, for the record, im a total of 62 out of 96 matches total, for an average of .646. That's not too bad, but not too good either. Block F and block H both proved to be major downfalls, filled with crazy guesses and fraught with unknowns that proved to sink me.

Block A = 8 out of 12
Block B = 9 out of 12
Block C = 9 out of 12
Block D = 9 out of 12
Block E = 8 out of 12
Block F = 5 out of 12
Block G = 8 out of 12
Block H = 6 out of 12

Round 2 starts this morning, with a total of 32 matches. Yes, that means from 96 girls, we get down to 32. This part of the tournament can prove to be some of the most decisive matches of the entire tournament, as some heavy favorites collide early, and new underdogs look to pull major upsets with the help of anti-voting. Just think - you think predicting round 1 was hard, round 2 will prove to be even harder.

A2-1
南春香（みなみけ） [Minami Haruka @ Minami-ke]
小森霧（絶望先生） [Komori Kiri @ Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei]
古手梨花（ひぐらし） [Furude Rika @ Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai]

Rika should roll in this match. There shouldn't be any reason other then hate votes for Rika to lose this round against fairly weak competition against her. The SZS faction may rally around Kiri (being that she is the only SZS girl left, the other eleven girls sent packing in round one), but last year's SaiMoe champion will be far too strong. She will get to face either Fate or Fuuko next round, and both can prove to be a major early challenge to repeat as SaiMoe champion.

A2-2
ギンガ・ナカジマ(魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS) [Ginga Nakajima @ Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS]
伊吹風子(CLANNAD) [Ibuki Fuuko @ Clannad]
フェイト・T・ハラオウン(魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS) [Fate T. Harlaown @ Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS]

The MSLN faction is just to organized to allow a split vote to eliminate Fate here. However, as seen in round one where Nanoha narrowly escaped round one in a split vote decision against Signum and Hiromi, this match may be far closer then Fate fans would like. Fuuko can pull in the big numbers, especially since the KyoAni faction seems very strong this year. Combined with anti-faction votes against the MSLN faction, this could turn ugly. The big question of this match will be: Will Fate once again be bounced out of SaiMoe in round 2? I predict not, but that's a shaky prediction.

B2-1
ぽてまよ（ぽてまよ） [Potemayo @ Potemayo]
クーパ（ドルアーガ） [Coopa @ The Tower of Druaga]
江戸前留奈（瀬戸） [Edomae Luna @ Seto no Hanayome]

Normally when you get to round 2, the matches intensify and nearly every girl has a fanbase somewhat. Of these three girls, they were just the best characters in their group. I predict Luna to win this match, considering how well SnH characters have done so far this year. I wouldn't dare think the Japanese would vote Potemayo past round 2, and Coopa just does not have the fanbase to be able to beat a far superior Luna fanbase.

B2-2
星野あさみ(Myself;Yourself)(Hoshino Asami @ Myself;Yourself)
千葉紀梨乃(バンブーブレード)(Chiba Kirino @ Bamboo Blade)
小岩井フローラ(ななついろ★ドロップス)(Koiwai Flora @ Nanatsuiro★Drops)

Kirino has a fairly good fanbase, and I wouldn't think with Asami and Flora in her group that she loses here. It'll be sad to see Asami get the boot, but I just don't see her getting by Kirino here.

Well, that's it for now. I'll probably be posting a bit more often, as these images are by the 2 per day for this round, instead of every 4 days or so.

2008-09-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

Block E Results

Block E is now over, and we have pretty much a major upset in this block. Rei Ayanami (yes, THAT Rei Ayanami, the one plastered all over Akihabara) lost her first round matchup to Nona Yuuki. Nia also was eliminated again in the first round of SaiMoe this year, and that'll probably be the last we see of her.

I went 8 for 12 in this block, making this block the worst block I have had since Block A. It also lowers my average down to .712, and with much more unknown characters coming up in the next three blocks, it'll be harder to predict who will win. I'll do my best though. ^_~

2008-09-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

Block F

We are finally down to the last three blocks of SaiMoe's exhausting round 1. Unlike the past two blocks, we don't have quite as many heavy hitters, but there are some dark horses - like a Nagisa or a Klan Klan.

[[F01]] 9/09
<<マカ＝アルバーン＠ソウルイーター>>(Maka Alban@Soul Eater)
<<沙英＠ひだまりスケッチ特別編>>(Sae@Hidamari Sketch)
<<貴嶋サキ＠ハヤテのごとく!>>(Kijima Saki@Hayate no Gotoku!)

This matchup is pretty much Maka vs. Sae, and Sae will probably win. Sae is the last Hidamari girl to make it into round two, as Hiro, Yuno, and Miyako have punched their tickets for the next round. Teh Hidamari is strong this year, and I don't see Maka doing too well, especially since she's coming from a Shonen series that's not built to make Maka a moe character.

[[F02]] 9/10
<<はてなようせい＠チャレンジ1年生でかっこいい1年生にへんしん!DVD>>(Hatena Yousei@Challenge Ichinensei de Kakkoii Ichinensei ni Henshin!)
<<乱崎千花（姫宮千子）＠狂乱家族日記>>(Midarezaki Chika@Kyouran Kazoku Nikki)
<<小川芽衣＠バンブーブレード>>(Ogawa Mei@Bamboo Blade)

This is pretty much a match nobody really cares about. Mei just seems to be the strongest in this group.

[[F03]] 9/11
<<双海亜美＠アイドルマスターシリーズ>>(Futami Ami@IDOLM@STER)
<<宮村みやこ＠ef - a tale of memories.>>(Miyamura Miyako@ef - a tale of memories.)
<<まち＠ながされて藍蘭島>>(Machi@Nagasarete Airantou)

I was on the fence with this pick to go with one of the other girls, but I felt that Ami is the strongest Idolmaster girl to possibly make it to the next round. That, and I have not seen enough of Miyako or seen Nagasarete Airantou to really make those picks.

[[F04]] 9/12
<<アテナ・グローリィ＠ARIA シリーズ>>(Athena Glory@ARIA the Origination)
<<壱原侑子＠xxxHOLiC◆継>>(Ichihara Yuuko@xxxHOLiC Kei)
<<木村カエレ＠さよなら絶望先生>>(Kimura Kaere@Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)

This may just be wishful thinking on my part. Then again, Alicia and Akira did very well - too bad they were in a split vote group with Louise and got eliminated. Yuuko is NOT moe, and somehow doubt the Japanese will support a "supposed" foreigner in Kaere. Athena's singing voice also recently died, making this the sympathy vote as well.

[[F05]] 9/09
<<紅月カレン＠コードギアス反逆のルルーシュ R2>>(Kouzuki Karen@Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion R2)
<<泉かなた（こなたの母）＠らき☆すた>>(Izumi Kanata@Lucky☆Star)
<<古河渚＠CLANNAD>>(Furukawa Nagisa@Clannad)

Nagisa. By a long shot. She's gonna soul crush this group, and quite possibly the block. Her only competition in this block anyway is Sae, Klan, Miku, and Hayate anyway, and she only will face Sae and one of the other three in the later rounds.

[[F06]] 9/10
<<衛藤芽生（めぇ）＠がくえんゆーとぴあまなびストレート!>>(Etou Mei@Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!)
<<ナツキ・クルーガー＠舞-乙HiME Zwei>>(Natsuki Kruger@My-Otome Zwei)
<<黒威すみ（てんぺらスミ）＠もえたん>>(Kuroi Sumi/Tempera Sumi@Moetan)

This is a gut feeling vote. Flip a coin with Sumi and Mei on this one.

[[F07]] 9/11
<<久寿川ささら＠ToHeart2 シリーズ>>(Kusugawa Sasara@ToHeart2 series)
<<小牧郁乃＠ToHeart2 シリーズ>>(Komaki Ikuno@ToHeart2)
<<富士原なえか＠仮面のメイドガイ>>(Fujiwara Naeka@Kamen no Maid Guy)

I was gonna go with one of the TH2 girls, but then I realized this is a split vote group. I think Naeka will squeak by this round on split votes and make it into the next round. Barely.

[[F08]] 9/12
<<クラン・クラン＠マクロスFRONTIER>>(Klan Klan@Macross Frontier)
<<森宮蒼乃＠sola>>(Morimiya Aono@sola)
<<藤堂志摩子＠マリア様がみてる OVA>>(Toudou Shimako@Maria-sama ga Miteru OVA)

This has actually turn into a pretty good matchup as of late. Klan Klan is getting some major airtime right now in Macross Frontier (series is due to end this month). Aono is not a sneeze over character, and Shimako is a proven SaiMoe veteran. However, the Klan Klan will be too strong in this group, especially since the death of her lover and her subsequent kick ass scene the next episode will propel her to go deep in this block. It also helps to be able to switch back and forth between being a loli and a HEALTHY girl.

[[F09]] 9/09
<< 梶原空＠スケッチブック〜full color's〜 >>(Kajiwara Sora@Sketchbook ~full color's~)
<<銭形巡＠瀬戸の花嫁>>(Zenigata Mawari@Seto no Hanayome)
<<黒井ななこ＠らき☆すた>>(Kuroi Nanako@Lucky☆Star)

Dunno really who will win this group. Just roll a d3 and move on.

[[F10]] 9/10
<<初音ミク＠俗・さよなら絶望先生>>(Hatsune Miku@Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)
<<八神はやて＠魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS>>(Yagami Hayate@Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS)
<<四方茉莉＠sola>>(Shihou Matsuri@sola)

I was seriously thinking about jumping off the Miku bandwagon, but I'm gonna stick it out with her. Hayate will be a force to be reckoned with though, and Matsuri will look to play spoiler here. Wow, the main girls in Sola really got shafted.

[[F11]] 9/11
<< ケイト＠スケッチブック〜full color's〜 >>(Kate@Sketchbook ~full color's~)
<<ヴィレッタ・ヌゥ＠コードギアス反逆のルルーシュ R2>>(Villetta Nu@Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion R2)
<<小早川ゆたか＠らき☆すた>>(Kobayakawa Yutaka@Lucky☆Star)

Going with Yutaka here in the battle of side characters. Yutaka has some of the charm of Konata, and I doubt the KyoAni faction will let her down in this block.

[[F12]] 9/12
<<峰岸あやの＠らき☆すた>>(Minegishi Ayano@Lucky☆Star)
<<瀬川泉＠ハヤテのごとく!>>(Segawa Izumi@Hayate no Gotoku!)
<<音羽／神楽ひなた（本物）＠H2O -FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND->>(Otoha/Kagura Hinata@H2O -Footprints in the Sand-)

I see a Izumi win here, though I expect some competition with Otoha. This may end up being close.

2008-09-03T11:29:00.000-07:00

Ah, Block D is now in the wraps, and we are now offically half way though the exhausting first round of SaiMoe 2008. With that in mind...

Block A = 8 out of 12
Block B = 9 out of 12
Block C = 9 out of 12
Block D = 9 out of 12
Total = 35 out of 48 (.729 avg)

Essentially, I'm pretty much right three out of four matchups so far. I have had three perfects so far, and no total misses. I've had a good number of one for threes though. I'll probably go back and look at the brackets again and do a number check of how many two out of threes I got, because I have a lot of those.

Anyway, to most people the first round of SaiMoe is boring. I personally think it's fun ~ it's like a anime version of the NCAA Basketball tournament. Except, instead of 65 teams, there are 298 anime girls. It's fun to make these brackets and make predictions, and I'm doing good so far. I thought about making a long-term full guess bracket, but it's way too hard to do that.

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed SaiMoe as much as I have. It sure is fun to just watch.

2008-09-03T10:41:00.000-07:00

BLOCK E! OH GOD!

I'll just copy-paste what I said on the MT forums, since i'm too lazy to type it out again.

Oh god, now we're on to Block E. To me, this is probably this year's group of death. I can also see some surprises waiting to happen in this block - and be bracket busters. The tournament did better this year at least in spreading the favorites around, but there's a good number in this block.

But yea, a block with Otoha, Shana, Rei Ayanami, Ranka, Nanoha, Nia, Tamaki, and Horo - just to name those who I think who will probably advance. Okay, really it's just because Nanoha and Shana are in the same block, and it seems like no one else will probably have a shot outside of Rei. But still, that's a good amount of moe that will be cut down by Shana/Nanoha.

Well, on to the individual matchups:

[[E01]] 9/04
<<久遠寺森羅＠君が主で執事が俺で>>(Kuonji Shinra@Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de)
<<神凪綾乃＠風のスティグマ>>(Kannagi Ayano@Kaze no Stigma)
<<桜野音羽＠スカイガールズ>>(Sakurano Otoha@Sky Girls)

I don't see how Otoha can lose this. Ayano is not a endearing character, in my mind. I don't know anything about Shinra, but apparently she has good feet? o.O Otoha, probably by a bit.

[[E02]] 9/05
<<加賀愛＠さよなら絶望先生>>(Kaga Ai@Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)
<<久遠寺未有＠君が主で執事が俺で>>(Kuonji Miyu@Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de)
<<シャナ＠灼眼のシャナII>>(Shana@Shakugan no Shana Second)

Oh God, Shana is Hawt! Sorry, had to say it. Shana, by a runaway. Don't even bother with the other two, Shana is just too tsundere moe for them. Glad to see her back though, after her 18 vote loss in the Kugimiya Civil War last year against eventual runner-up, Nagi Senzanin.

[[E03]] 9/06
<<綾波レイ／綾波三姉妹＠新世紀エヴァンゲリオンシリーズ>>(Ayanami Rei@Neon Genesis Evangelion)
<<鏡黒＠こどものじかん>>(Kagami Kuro@Kodomo no Jikan)
<<結城ノナ（現プリマ・アスパラス）＠ななついろ★ドロップス>>(Yuuki Nona/Prima Asparas@Nanatsuiro★Drops)

Really Japan? I hope they come out with some Card Captor Sakura movie so we can bring back Sakura Kinomoto, and not her older Tsubasa proxy. Though, with Haruhi's defeat earlier in the tournament, things may not look as bright for Rei as it seems. But I still expect Rei Ayanami, practically the de-facto icon of Akihabara to advance easily. I would be deeply surprised if she doesn't.

[[E04]] 9/07
<<桂心＠School Days シリーズ>>(Katsura Kokoro@School Days)
<<ランカ・リー＠マクロスFRONTIER>>(Ranka Lee@Macross Frontier)
<<月村真由＠ご愁傷さま二ノ宮くん>>(Tsukimura Mayu@Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun)

I've been raving for weeks on how good Macross Frontier is, and I don't see why Ranka would lose in this matchup versus a very loli-moe imbued character in Kokoro. Mayu, you can go home ~ Reika already did. Though, Ranka's rep did take a hit a bit in the series, but we still have another 2-3 episodes to go for her to make that up.

[[E05]] 9/04
<<高町なのは＠魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS>>(Takamachi Nanoha@Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS)
<<湯浅比呂美＠true tears>>(Yuasa Hiromi@true tears)
<<シグナム＠魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS>>(Signum@Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS)

Nanoha. By a big margin. She's not the SaiMoe 2005 champion and perennial favorite every year for nothing.

[[E06]] 9/05
<<仙童紫＠ロザリオとバンパイア>>(Sendou Yukari@Rosario+Vampire)
<<キャロ・ル・ルシエ＠魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS>>(Caro Ru Rushe@Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS)
<<月島きらり＠きらりん☆レボリューション>>(Tsukishima Kirari@Kirarin Revolution)

I don't know enough of the other two characters to really make a good decision, but I doubt the MSLN fans will just let Caro go down that easy. I expect her to advance so she can get smacked down by Nanoha next round.

[[E07]] 9/06
<<梅枝ナオミ＠絶対可憐チルドレン>>(Umegae Naomi@Zettai Karen Children)
<<南千秋＠みなみけシリーズ>>(Minami Chiaki@Minami-ke)
<<座敷童＠xxxHOLiC◆継>>(Zashikiwarashi@xxxHOLiC Kei)

It took me reading volume 8 of the xxxHOLiC manga to remember who Zashikiwarashi is, and honestly ~ she has no chance against Chiaki. Teh Minami is strong this year, and I think it'll be strong here.

[[E08]] 9/07
<<稲森光香（みかん）＠がくえんゆーとぴあまなびストレート!>>(Inamori Mika/Mikan@Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!)
<<シエスタ＠ゼロの使い魔〜双月の騎士〜>>(Siesta@Zero no Tsukaima ~Futatsuki no Kishi~)
<<葛城みかん＠レンタルマギカ>>(Katsuragi Mikan@Rental Magica)

I actually changed my vote today on this matchup. Originally I was going to go with Siesta, but after seeing the previous matchups so far, 2ch sure loves it's lolis. Mikan is that loli that gives 2ch orgasms. So going with Mikan here.

[[E09]] 9/04
<<猫宮のの＠よつのは>>(Nekomiya Nono@Yotsunoha)
<<ニア・テッペリン＠天元突破グレンラガン>>(Nia Teppelin@Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann)
<< 麻生夏海＠スケッチブック〜full color's〜 >>(Asou Natsumi@Sketchbook ~full color's~)

I expect Nia to come away the victor here. I don't know anything on Natsumi or Nono. Nono looks like a interesting character though.

[[E10]] 9/05
<<桑原鞘子＠バンブーブレード>>(Kuwabara Sayako@Bamboo Blade)
<<川添珠姫＠バンブーブレード>>(Kawazoe Tamaki@Bamboo Blade)
<<アンゼロット＠ナイトウィザード The ANIMATION>>(Anzelotte@Night Wizard the Animation)

We could see a split vote effect here and Anzelotte to advance to take advantage, but I don't know how strong of a character Anzelotte is. I haven't seen enough of Night Wizard to make a good guess about her, but my assumption is she just won't have the votes to overtake either one. I like Tamaki ~ one of the main girls of Bamboo Blade, to advance here.

[[E11]] 9/06
<<小神あきら＠らき☆すた>>(Kogami Akira@Lucky☆Star)
<<水瀬伊織＠アイドルマスターシリーズ>>(Minase Iori@IDOLM@STER)
<<月島小恋＠D.C.II 〜ダ・カーポII〜>>(Tsukishima Koko@D.C.II)

This is a very weak group in a otherwise very strong block. Going with Akira, only because she's from Lucky Star.

[[E12]] 9/07
<<ホロ＠狼と香辛料>>(Horo@Spice and Wolf)
<<咲野明日夏＠キミキス pure rouge>>(Sakino Asuka@Kimikiss pure rouge)
<<乱崎月香＠狂乱家族日記>>(Midarezaki Gekka@Kyouran Kazoku Nikki)

I see a wolf advancing here. Sakino will be the third Kimikiss girl to go down in the first round, and I felt Yuumi and Eriko should have advanced too. Sakino has no chance in hell against Horo, and the same probably can be said of Gekka.

2008-08-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

Now for the Block C results.

I went 9 for 12 last round, keeping me on pace for a with a .722 average. (26/36 correctly guessed).

Being 3/4ths right all the time is not bad. But I expect it to certainly drop possibly in the next few blocks, as they get extremely tough to guess at.

2008-08-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

Block D

Ah Block D. Block D for DOLT! This is a top heavy bracket, featuring many SaiMoe favorites. And only one can advance. Yikes. Except some epic battles from the first round to the third round in this bracket.

By the way, im writing this while farming Alterac Valley. Not the best of ideas, but meh.

[[D01]] 8/31
<<一ノ瀬ことみ＠CLANNAD>>(Ichinose Kotomi@Clannad)
<<ノーラ・アレント＠狼と香辛料>>(Nora Arendt@Spice and Wolf)
<<清浦刹那＠School Days シリーズ>>(Kiyoura Setsuna@School Days)

Nora is too minor of a character to matter, and Setsuna may put up a fight - but the KyoAni faction will be too much for both as Kotomi will win in a huge landslide. And it'll be HEUG because.. well, because of the voting day.

[[D02]] 9/01
<<北条麗華＠ご愁傷さま二ノ宮くん>>(Houjou Reika@Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun)
<<吉野屋先生＠ひだまりスケッチ特別編>>(Yoshinoya-sensei@Hidamari Sketch)
<<ゆい＠こはるびより>>(Yui@Koharu Biyori)

All of these characters are meh characters for the most part, but Reika is the least meh out of all of them. Yoshinoya-sensei grates on my nerves sometimes - but that's expected in that show.

[[D03]] 9/02
<<坂上智代＠CLANNAD>>(Sakagami Tomoyo@Clannad)
<<シェリル・ノーム＠マクロスFRONTIER>>(Sheryl Nome@Macross Frontier)
<<坂井千草＠灼眼のシャナII>>(Sakai Chigusa@Shakugan no Shana Second)

Why is even Sakai here? And sucks for Sheryl - she's too cool of a character with BRIGHT SLAP and all - but KyoAni faction will be too strong for her, especially since Tomoyo got a big boost from the Tomoyo-centralized Clannad episode 24. It wouldn't surprise me though if we see Sheryl pull a upset though. Macross Frontier is still running, after all.

[[D04]] 9/03
<<九軒ひまわり＠xxxHOLiC◆継>>(Kunogi Himawari@xxxHOLiC Kei)
<<星乃結美＠キミキス pure rouge>>(Hoshino Yuumi@Kimikiss pure rouge)
<<朝倉由夢＠D.C.II 〜ダ・カーポII〜>>(Asakura Yume@D.C.II)

To me, these are all bleh characters. But my vote goes to Yuumi - who let go of her love for a man so that he can go off for another woman. That's some serious heart and wisdom right there.

[[D05]] 8/31
<<泉こなた＠らき☆すた>> (Izumi Konata@Lucky☆Star)
<<リインフォースII＠魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS>>(Reinforce II@Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS)
<<園宮可憐＠スカイガールズ>>(Sonomiya Karen@Sky Girls)

Yikes. Two potential favorites to win it all and a minor character who can play spoiler. As much as I like Reinforce I, (who was just baddass,) I'm not as fond with Reinforce II. Karen will pull a good number of votes - but it'll pail in comparison to the girl known as "Legendary Girl A" - Konata Izumi. KyoAni fans will rally behind their leader, and I doubt none will be able to challenge her in this group.

[[D06]] 9/01
<<西連寺春菜＠To LOVEる>>(Sairenji Haruna@To Love Ru)
<<フミカ（ミカ／シゴフミ配達人）＠シゴフミ>>(Fumika/Mika/Shigofumi Mailgirl@Shigofumi)
<<鈴木凛＠バンブーブレード>>(Suzuki Rin@Bamboo Blade)

All of these characters are not explictly strong. I'm going with Haruna just because she's the only character I know in this group. Wouldn't surprise me if someone else wins though.

[[D07]] 9/02
<<六瓢代理（鴫守（しぎもり））＠我が家のお稲荷さま。>>(Mubyou Dairi/Shigimori@Wagaya no Oinari-sama.)
<<久遠寺夢＠君が主で執事が俺で>>(Kuonji Yume@Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de)
<<ヴィルヘルミナ・カルメル＠灼眼のシャナII>>(Wilhemina Carmel@Shakugan no Shana Second)

I expect Wilhemina to pass this group with ease ~de arimasu. The other two characters in this group are too minor to matter ~de arimasu. I also voice the very lovely Haruka Nogizaka ~de arimasu.

[[D08]] 9/03
<<ティアナ・ランスター＠魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS>>(Teana Lanster@Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS)
<<委員長（ラストアマゾネス）＠瀬戸の花嫁>>(Iinchou/Last Amazones@Seto no Hanayome)
<<吉田一美＠灼眼のシャナII>>(Yoshida Kazumi@Shakugan no Shana Second)

This'll be a battle between Teana and Kazumi. I feel Kazumi will have the slight edge due to being more moe then Teana (whos more tsundere, not that affects voting). It'll be test between the Shana faction and the Nanoha faction here.

[[D09]] 8/31
<<ファティナ＠ドルアーガの塔〜the Aegis of URUK〜>>(Fatina@The Tower of Druaga ~the Aegis of URUK~)
<<マリア＠ハヤテのごとく!>>(Maria@Hayate no Gotoku!)
<<竜宮レナ＠ひぐらしのなく頃に解>>(Ryuuguu Rena@Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai)

Wow. Loaded group here. Poor Fatina though - didn't deserve being put into this group where she'll probably be crushed. Same with Maria, who is a better character then most but both will be omaeshikairi'ed (I misspelled it, probably) by Rena, who last year got to the semi-finals and booted Kagamin out of last year's SaiMoe. Poor Fatina, poor Maria.

[[D10]] 9/01
<<篠崎咲世子＠コードギアス反逆のルルーシュ R2>>(Shinozaki Sayoko@Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion R2)
<<芳乃さくら＠D.C.II 〜ダ・カーポII〜>>(Yoshino Sakura@D.C.II)
<<田村ひより＠らき☆すた>>(Tamura Hiyori@Lucky☆Star)

This one for the most part is a big guess - mainly because these are characters that are not that well known. I'm going with Sakura Yoshino here - since she was in DCI as well, and she's voiced by Yukarin.

[[D11]] 9/02
<<アディリシア・レン・メイザース＠レンタルマギカ>>(Adilisia Lenn Mathers@Rental Magica)
<<音無芽留＠さよなら絶望先生>>(Otonashi Meru@Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)
<<宮子＠ひだまりスケッチ特別編>>(Miyako@Hidamari Sketch)

This'll be a battle right here between Miyako and Meru. Miyako is your overkill moe, and Meru is that quiet mean moe. My personal preference here will be Miyako - and the main girls of Hidamari have been doing very well so far, and I would expect nothing less then a good showing at least for Miyako.

[[D12]] 9/03
<<マリナ・イスマイール＠機動戦士ガンダム00>>(Marina Ismail@Gundam 00)
<< ミケ＠スケッチブック〜full color's〜 >>(Mike@Sketchbook ~full color's~)
<<ラゼル・アナディス（ラゼンシア・ローズ）＠破天荒遊戯>>(Rahzel Anadis@Hatenkou Yuugi)

Marina is a minor character. Mike is a friggin cat. Rahzel is a main character, and I would be slightly surprised if she doesn't do well. Besides, she's a awesome mage.