AnimeRev Batch 3

Elfen Lied

Browsing thru Animenfo's top 200 list This title caught my attention as having the highest place among 2004 releases and having been licensed too quickly.
Overall, this anime was amazing, distinct and developing characters, underlying pasts and great visuals. As I was watching, I came to realize the reasons in its popularity: nudity, violence, bloodshed, decapitation and even sensitive topics. Disturbing is a term i'd like to use, at the level of Evangelion or beyond it.


This is Nana (the number 7 in jap) and is Matsuoka Yuki's character. She's obedient and affectionate, having only the love of her 'foster' father to carry her through all her suffering.




I can't help but crave to post these caps. Its from episode 13 and was done by [ghetto-subs]. I laughed hard at how they inserted linux awareness in an anime (these 2 lines had nothing to do with the real dialogue).


Grenadier: The Smiling Senshi

I couldn't help but cringe while watching this. "To win the fight by vanishing the opponent's will to fight". Rushuna is a gunslinger with huge racks who shoots a revolver not killing opponents and reloads her gun by popping out bullets from in between her bussoms. It took 5 episodes to introduce Matsuoka Yuki's character Kurenai Mikan, a balloon expert orphaned by a gang when her father refused to pay for protection. Skip this anime if you can...

Mikan is on the left, Rushuna right.

Gundam Seed

I was avoiding this anime for no apparent reason. People around me liked it and the series was ongoing so I put if off until recently. It has great mech/fight scenes and teenage hormones and angst flying around. Friend becoming foe, foe becoming ally... it relays the message that going the extra mile to understand people could eliminate unnecessary conflict. A memorable line goes "What are you fighting against?".

Wolf's Rain

"Amazing". It tells the story of wolves capable of disguising themselves as humans who are in a journey to reach paradise. The only complain I have about it is 4 consecutive summary/review episodes, making it 30 eps other that the normal 26. But hey, just skip those 4 and enjoy an absolutely beautiful anime.

Haibane Renmei

"Slow, Sad yet Beautiful". I liked the soothing feeling that this anime gave me. Despite loss, pain, suffering there is always hope and redemption.

Near Death Near Christmas

BANG!!!

A resounding crash was heard as the apartment manager and his assistants bashed the front door and stormed inside the house. The noise both inside and outside the house was high. Half-asleep and half-shocked, a resident of the house ran down the stairs to assess the situation. Gas fumes had saturated the house unnoticed by the slumbering residents. A faulty hose was found, a tragedy was avoided.

Thus were the events of this morning. I'd hate to admit that we were all saved by the nosiness of my neighbors. They alerted the apartment manager because they could smell the gas although the doors and windows were shut.

An accident like the one in fight club was averted. What a way to wake up to the day of Christmas eve.

TANG INUMIN MO!!!

(this is not a paid advertisement)
We should be thankful for little things that get us by everyday. I'm taking time now to list some of them.

1) Litro Packs of Tang. A 'healthy' addiction. I prepare it to almost the consistency of flavored water, with 3 liters of water to a pack. Why so diluted? Dunno. Cost-effective, I guess. Also drinking it straight is easy, just the right amount of flavor and blandness. On a busy day, I can consume 3 packs=9 liters (and they just suggest only 8 glasses a day :)) ).

2) Audio Books. While programming or any activity requiring less than 100% concentration, I listen to all 5 Harry Potter books (read by jim dale). Having listened to each dozens of times, they provide a consistent amount of background sound, partially devoid of mood compared to music. Im trying out the dune series right now, but I prefer jim dale as an audiobook reader.

3) Downloaded Watchables. Be it anime, smallville or whatevers, watching stuff entertains my otherwise bland life. Watching too much makes one dumb, but wasn't I already to begin with :))

Osaka wo Sagashite

(Searching for Osaka)
If you've been following my posts, you should have noticed that my favorite anime character is Osaka-san (aka Kasuga Ayumu) of Azumanga Daioh. Why, you may ask. Because I see myself in her personality and frequent "spaced out-ness". Following the trail of her seiyu(voice actress), Matsuoka Yuki, I've found some amazing anime which employed her voice for their characters:

[Azumanga Daioh]Kasuga Ayumu (aka Osaka):



[Appleseed 2004]Hitomi:



Hitomi is the dark haired girl in the pics. She is probably the character with the most speaking lines. This movie is special because most characters are 3D-rendered and celpainted. It takes some time, even after the movie to get used to celpainted 3D. Maybe its because I've gotten accustomed to how they mix them in Macross Zero. But thats not to put down its Mechs and incredible battle scenes, as they are some of the best I've ever seen. As for the story pace, it was uneven: slow on some parts, and too rushed in others. Overall, it is a landmark, a view of what anime can become in the future.

[Bleach]Inoue Orihime:


Bleach is an ongoing anime and is generally about a teenage boy with above average spiritual powers who after some turn of events inherits the job of Shinigami (soul reaper). I find it interesting so im tuning to it every week, with [Lunar] fansubs in the lead in translations. Yuki here is a spaced out girl who silently grows an interest in the lead character.

[Maburaho]Kazetsubaki Kuriko:


Another Harem setup (one guy fawned over by lots of girls) but with a twist! Its in a world where magic is limited and overuse leads to death. With an average use of 8000 in a life time, how's our lead to survive with only 8 to start with? Yuki here is a confident and capable heir who has interest in the lead character.

[Stelliva of the Universe]Glennorth Arisa:


Yuki here plays a loud and friendly character who while not being as talented as the lead, is the one that supports her the most.

I'll probably post more as I exhaust Matsuoka Yuki's discography :D

TSFD, a review

I started both this blog and intensive taebo due to the realization that my belly was protruding far beyond normal. Due to some unfortunate events, I eased out on exercise nearing the start of the 3rd month. I couldn't really blame myself, I was doing taebo everyday to the point that I got bored and even did it while still half asleep. Well, after the break and restarting taebo again, I'm realizing how much my body missed it. So the primary goal of this blog is still intact: that beyond working hard to look good on the outside, feeling good and healthy on the inside definitely rules.

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I haven't posted any images recently so I hope you enjoy this one. I call it "Dune-ruto". The original is from the 1984 movie of Dune and the one I stole the body from is Gurney Halleck, played by Patrick Stewart. I look horrible being old and bald =))

A teacher's smile

My vague recollection of Sir Alix is that he reprimanded my entire first year class for running in the corridors. But beyond this is his smile which he brings seemingly effortlessly. May you continue to live through your students.

X X X

Don't fly off the handle now... its XML XSL XMLStarlet. Three Xs I had to relearn to pluck out Playlist Information out of an iTunes XML file. Why do it? Coz there's challenge in it XD.
I'll leave XML and XSL for you to read on, but I'll discuss the last one. XMLStarlet is a command line XML toolkit that one can use to manipulate xml in a multitude of ways. Although I hardly delved into its full functionality, it served my purpose of transforming the iTunes XML to something I wanted.
Basing my XSL from Niel Bornstein's, I modified it to produce html code that contained the Song Name and Artist. Here's a link to the XSL.
To make an html version of a playlist, put the iTunes xml and the xsl file in the same directory as the executable of xmlstar. For example the title of your playlist in iTunes is NarutoOSTs then type xml tr bmaciTunes2html.xsl -s playlist="NarutoOSTs" library.xml >NarutoOSTs.html walah! html file XD
Problem is, for infreakncredibly large xml files, you can sleep then wake up to the program still converting it *rotfl*. Maybe I'll make an optimized version if i get the time :D