Archive for October, 2009

Midweek Anime Post

October 30th, 2009

lol, actually, I started this midweek, and by the type I got to publishing it, it’s Friday.

Of course, look forward to the special weekend reviews with stuff like Blacksmith, Seitokai, Nyan Koi, and whatever.

こばと / Kobato Episode 04 – It was somewhere between interesting and uninteresting. Wasn’t particuarly funny this episode. Kobato is cute as always. Weird things start happening. What’s with the goddamn bunny.

She’s always so optimistic — it’s really refreshing after a long day of Arcadia-style torture. AA. [7/10]

うみねこのなくころに / Umineko no Naku Koro ni Episode 18

First half, this is what I typed:

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?????

I can’t even bear to give it a rating.

OMGWTFFFF after the first half, it totally changes

all that lame stuff… it’s actually ;xxx *spoiler*

UGH EPICC… IT WAS ALL AN ACT!!! EPIC AWESOME LAWL

Ushiromiya Ange finally appears too! XDDD Epicest episode ever!!

Okay just due to this ONE episode, Umineko just jumped ahead of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.

and UGGHH CLIFFHANGER ;_____;

This episode was [11/10]. SSS.

Only Hayate no Gotoku gets those XD

11eyes ~罪と罰と購いの少女~ Episode 04— Last time we left off, Kakeru-kun was on the verge of death, and his older sister (who was supposed to have died seven years ago) saved him. Kakeru-kun was only able to catch a blurry glimpse of her, and is considering whether or not it was all a hallucination.

Yukiko is weird. What’s with the school nurse? That silver-haired guy is cool. He should be the main character. Ah, Takehisa is his name. Nice name. And of course they’re pissed off at each other. There are totally going to be yaoi doujinshis about him and Kakeru-kun for Winter Comiket ><.

Ok, Kakeru-kun fails at life, fighting, and everything else. And protecting girls. Of course, he has like three girls that like him already, and it’s only the fourth episode. And that’s not counting his onee-san ^^

The “coming of the Red Night” animation is extremely extremely cool.

Takahisa is a mental-ignition psychic – Pyrokineticist.

I love how they’re giving “English-ish scientific” sounding terms for this XD

Kusakabe-senpai’s seven legendary swords or whatever are really cool. In fact, the animation in this is epic. However, I STILL don’t understand the story (and this is ep 4…)

Yukiko totally changes when she takes her glasses off. Also, her attack reminds me of Final Hit. Totally. Complete with teleportation and all.

11eyes04-1

“Where did you acquire that superhuman combat capability and immense murderous intent?”

Kusakabe-senpai wants to know where she can buy some.

I don’t have any idea what to rate this anime because I have no idea what’s going on with the plot. For the animation it would get an S, I guess. It would be nice if we saw Kakeru’s onee-chan more. She’s really cute ^^

Daily Conversations

October 30th, 2009

WordPress’ing some of today’s conversations. Posted the day after.

Tyuiop says (9:00 PM):
i have hole phobia

Me says (10:05 PM):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polite_number
they’re polite
Tyuiop says (10:05 PM):
lol
Me says (10:05 PM):
“The politeness of a positive number is defined as the number of ways it can be expressed as the sum of consecutive integers.”
>_> don’t you just love mathematicians?
Tyuiop says (10:05 PM):
lawl…
[…]
Tyuiop says (10:07 PM):
i thot 2 is a very polite number
Me says (10:07 PM):
but it turned out to be quite rude
Tyuiop says (10:07 PM):
it divides things very nicely
Me says (10:07 PM):
XD
Tyuiop says (10:07 PM):
and fair
Me says (10:07 PM):
><

[[k]] says (10:17 PM):
i always think of beef when i think of prime numbers

Sora no Otoshimono PV

October 29th, 2009

Sora no Otoshimono, Kadokawa’s official trailer/PV. Yeah, it looks really epic ><

I want the intro song, Ring my Bell. It’s been stuck in my head tonight (that’s why I posted this), haha.

Bay Math League – Limits (12th)

October 28th, 2009

[gview file=”http://www.leafwood.net/b/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/handout.pdf”]

Version including practice problems (warning: ~3MB file!):
Limits (12th) [09-10]

A Man, A Plan, A Canal — Hank Lin!

October 28th, 2009

So today, I was at our district’s Fall String Concert from like 5:30 until 10:30. Yes, five hours. And you know what? The whole of it, I spent alongside the boy… no, the man; the man amongst men, known only by the legendary name of “Hank Lin”.

This post is going to be dedicated to him. We had so many interesting conversations on the bus to and from Pasadena High School’s auditorium, so I feel like sharing.

Me
Hank

(eyes closed, trying to sleep)

“HEY BEN!”

“?”

“Don’t you want a girlfriend?”

“…”

“I want a girlfriend, you know?”

“…”

“I think the most important part is that the girl has to be hot.”

“…”

I can’t remember clearly exactly what the conversation went like… agh. This is one of those things that are so much funnier in real life.

Ugh, I can’t remember any of the conversations we had (writing this Wednesday)… @#$

As an afterthought, I should have brought a tape recorder and actually recorded these conversations. Hank is such a funny guy, he must be brilliant. He also seems to be gifted with extraordinary luck… at times.

Me
Hank

“StarCraft is so awesome, *blahblah*”

*nodnod*

“You know, our Comp Sci teacher, Mr. ****, lets us play StarCraft in class.”

“… *wtf*”

“Oh, yeah. He even watches us from behind when we’re playing, and makes comments like “oh, you should’ve zergling rushed him” or “you should’ve gotten the weapons upgrade first”.”

“… I should’ve taken AP Comp Sci…”

“Lol, it’s so funny, my PE teacher last year was a World of Warcraft addict, so instead of having to run or exercise, I just talked with the teacher about World of Warcraft the whole period, and he gave me an automatic A+ even though I never did anything in class.”

“… you are one lucky bastard guy.”

Lol, remember, Hank always finishes his homework in Comp Sci.

Hank never does any of his homework (at home). He always ends up doing his homework during Comp Sci, English H, whatever he has for Period 2, and Orchestra.

Yet he still manages to get STRAIGHT As. Never studies. Never does homework. Never pays attention in class. HOW DO YOU DO IT, HANK??? WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF YOUR CRAZY LUCK? share some with me, plz?

Me
Hank

“So you watch anime?

“Have you watched, um, what was it called… *describes*”

“Cardcaptor Sakura?”

“Yeah, yeah, Cardcaptors. I love that show! The girl, she’s so hot!”

I don’t know why, but I just get suck a kick out of hearing Hank saying “she’s hot”.

I mean, compared to us, he might be more socially inept. However, he goes out and tries really hard to communicate and build bridges between people, and although it gets annoying at times (e.g. Ms. Daniel’s class), I suppose it’s a unique trait that requires a lot of determination and willpower. Hank will talk to anyone, and will talk about the randomest things when there isn’t anything to talk about.

The rest of us wouldn’t talk to most people we pass by, and if we don’t have anything to talk about, we absolutely will not talk to them (because there’s no reason to). Maybe we could all learn something from Hank.

Hank: (regarding Descartes’ Rule of Signs) “Ms. Daniel! How about instead of counting the number of sign changes, we count the number of times the sign DOESN’T CHANGE! OMG I’m SO BRILLIANT!”

Class:

Hank: I mean why would you plug in negative X when you’re supposed to? You could just count the number of times the sign doesn’t change! I’m such a genius!

Ms. Daniel: … Hank, how about we do it like it says in the textbook?

[a week later; math team meeting 10/18/09]

Hank: *raises hand* How about instead of counting the number of sign changes, we count the number of times the sign DOESN’T CHANGE!

Math Team: … …

Hank: I mean why would you plug in negative X when you’re supposed to? You could just count the number of times the sign doesn’t change!

Me, James, and probably Jason: ……………

On the other hand, maybe he’s just trying to get attention. I read that somewhere, that attention (along with, what, sex and money?) is one of the things humans genetically seek, even subconsciously. I guess we can’t blame him for wanting attention, then, and he sure has succeeded. See, he even made me write a blog post about him…

The Sunday Anime Post

October 27th, 2009

Usually, when Sunday comes along, a truckload of new episodes come out.

However, nothing really came out today except Blacksmith. That’s really odd… Seitokai is going to be out late as usual, but yesterday was also really anime-empty. The only thing that came out yesterday was Nyan Koi!, and I don’t really care much about that one. Friday was also boring.

Well, I’ll start with a review of this week’s Blacksmith, and update this as Sunday goes along.

Seiken no Blacksmith Episode 04 – It was interesting… yet it was uninteresting.

Random screenshot.

Random screenshot.

Well… we see Cecily and Luke being tsundere to each other, like usual. That’s like, the highlight of this anime. CecilyxLuke forever, right?

Anyways, as for the action… the um fire-golem-person-monster-thing-that-melts-iron was kind of… idk, it wasn’t that cool, but it didn’t suck. The sword, what was she called? Ah, right, Aria. Weird name for a “Demon Sword” but ahh.

So… this anime would be more fun if we saw the main cast (of Cecily, Luke, Lucy, and Aria) go off on some Inuyasha-like journey and have great adventures. The current status quo is simply too frustrating, boring, annoying, uninteresting, and did I mention, really boring?

Either way though, the intro is another one of those “OMG this one is the best song this season!” after I listen to it. Too many good songs this season. The anime is just cute, it doesn’t have any real impact (yet). I want to see Cecily and Luke do cool things and pwn badguys left and right! Agh. AAA. [8/10]

Fairy Tail Episode 03 – Natsu tricks Lucy into teaming up with him. Their work this time is to steal a book and burn it. Book-burning. Fun.

Along the way, they accidentally blow up this huge mansion, Kentucky-fry a couple buff muscular dudes, and wreck general havoc. Better than last episode, I guess… ? AA [7/10]

Nyan Koi! Episode 04 – A three-word summary of this episode: “Mizuno is hot.”

Random screenshot.

Random screenshot.

Really though, this episode was really good for Nyan Koi!. No, but, it’s like weird. This episode was totally drawn and animated like it was a manga.

Actually, this ep was almost like a Seitokai ep; lots of random references. I only recognized a few, I guess.

Why do they start speaking Kansai-ish near the end of the ep? >_<

Why did they randomly fall in love? XD It was cheesy but awesome~~

This is like a stupid-ified version of CLANNAD. If like, they toned down Tomoya’s coolness, removed Sunohara, made it harem instead of Nagisa-only, added a pile of cats, and a couple of other minor changes… yeah. Well, I guess the characters are completely different, but still, the framework of the anime is basically a stupid version of CLANNAD for 3-year-olds or something.

Either way, nice episode. AA [7/10]

Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu (Sailor Uniform and Machine Gun) reference; the only ref I got (lol, not a dorama/j-movie person).

Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu (Sailor Uniform and Machine Gun) reference; the only ref I got (lol, not a dorama/j-movie person).

Shakugan no Shanatan G – Lol.

(yes, one-word review. I pwn.)

*~*~*~*~*~*

Of course, it's always Sugisaki's fault.

Of course, it's always Sugisaki's fault.

Seitokai no Ichizon Episode 04 – It’s TUESDAY, and this episode is FINALLY out! It’s been almost a week since the episode came out!

Of course, it’s as parody-ful and hilarious as any other ep. Don’t have time to take a bunch of screenshots (this week I did Sora no Otoshimono instead, lol).

… lol, and of course, Seitokai is doing more self-referencing like the first ep.

… okay, THAT was a railgun reference. That was definitely a railgun reference. And, lol, it was the only reference I got in Minatsu’s rant.

Uuu! Looks like this ep will be Minatsu-focused! <333 suki~

I still don't get how gaming and Boys' Love go together.

I still don't get how gaming and Boys' Love go together.

OMG at Mafuyu…

… ugh, I think I’m starting to dislike Chizuru. Her scene was just… eww. XD

Sugisaki is such a talented writer. Too bad he's surrounded by idiots (minus Chizuru).

Sugisaki is such a talented writer. Too bad he's surrounded by idiots (minus Chizuru).

Okay, time to write a serious paragraph on this… not that I really have anything constructive to say. Other than “omg this episode was epic, seitokai is epic, watch it!!!11oneoneeleven”.

Hahaha, I ended up taking piles and piles of screenshots anyways… agh.

There should be a name for this… like “Obsessive-Compulsive Screenshot Taking Disorder (OCSTD)”. ^_^

"Bands are in fashion lately in anime."

"Bands are in fashion lately in anime."

OMG TOTAL BLATANT OBVIOUS AWESOME K-ON! REFERENCE XDD especially their lines later on (tehe, won’t spoiler). That was awesome.

The weekly random kawaii Mafuyu shot.

The weekly random kawaii Mafuyu shot.

Okay, that’s already way too many screenshots. Watch the rest of the ep yourself.

Aren't males supposed to be the dominant gender in society? What happened to all that English Honors feminist crap?

Aren't males supposed to be the dominant gender in society? What happened to all that English Honors feminist crap?

Maybe Chizuru is secretly a guy (like Nadeshiko from Shugo Chara!… yeah, she’s the reason I considered that possibility XD)

Especially since she’s infatuated with the president…

(no comment)

(no comment)

Sora no Otoshimono: Special Edition Post

October 27th, 2009
She's still being motherly to that watermelon.

She's still being motherly to that watermelon.

そらのおとしもの / Sora no Otoshimono / Heaven’s Lost Property Episode 04

I can’t believe how good this episode was.

Okay, first, there are the panties. I’ve mostly become desensitized to panties, pantyshots, and things like that in animes. For people who don’t regularly watch these kinds of animes, don’t be freaked out by some of these screenshots.

This is how normal Japanese people think. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Anyways, this episode was Hayate no Gotoku! level humor (of course, with the added genre of Ecchi).

The animation quality is also FAR above par. Character design and all, I’ve already complimented Sora no Otoshimono on.

Well, I’ll leave the rest for the screenshots to explain. A picture’s worth a thousand words, after all, and I have not the time to type out a thousand words when I should be doing my English essay.

Disregard the foreground.

Disregard the foreground.

He’s talking to the flying panties, by the way.

... I'll leave this one alone.

... I'll leave this one alone.

You don’t meet someone very often who would smile while telling you, “The panties will explode.”

Sohara’s obviously enjoying this.

Yeah, so basically this episode is about... exploding panties.

Yeah, so basically this episode is about... exploding panties.

He’s way too immature to be a pervert. Or does it work the other way around?

Like, is he way too perverted to be the immature, childish brat he is?

Normally, perverted people are, like, glasses-sporting geeks, amirite?

He's enjoying this, too.

He's enjoying this, too.

Obviously.

Deck the halls with boughs of panties~!

Deck the halls with boughs of panties~!

He sure has a lot of free time.

Random shot.

Random shot.

I still haven’t decided who is cuter, Sohara or Ikaros. I know I said “Sohara FTW” for the first ep, but Ikaros is really cute and… dumb. Idk. Sometimes a dumber, more obedient wife = a better wife.

Wait… I’m not even choosing my wife, I’m deciding on an anime pairing. Tsk at myself.

I don't have any friends... :(

I don't have any friends... :(

See? She’s cute.

This pic basically sums up the whole episode.

This pic basically sums up the whole episode.

I still don’t see why he’s smiling.

Student Council President FTW!

Student Council President FTW!

Making this sound like a yazuka/gangsta B-movie FTW!

Speaking of which, why does she seem to have all those bodyguards around? Ya don’t think she’s like, some yazuka gang leader’s daughter? XD

And he took her seriously...

And he took her seriously...

Of course.

Okay, now it became a lame mecha anime parody.

Okay, now it became a lame mecha anime parody.

Lol, I don’t even get the reference. The logo reminds me of Macross.

Suddenly... he looks manly...

Suddenly... he looks manly...

Looks like Sousuke from Full Metal Panic, without the scar, and slightly younger.

Mission accomplished; damsel in distress has been saved.

Mission accomplished; damsel in distress has been saved.

“My house kinda got blown up/burnt down as a side effect, but oh well.”

Also, maybe he needs to remember that he’s stark naked, and she’s not wearing panties.

And so, the lame B-movie ends.

And so, the lame B-movie ends.

This was just funny.

I kinda missed the real ending song, though x3

*geass*

*geass*

New character! Uwaiii!

SS. [10/10]

Mini Mini Blog Post

October 26th, 2009

Lol, I have a concert in 10 minutes.

Anyways, some highlights of today.

  • Hank didn’t do his Oedipus Rex essay.
  • In zero period Comp Sci class, he finished it and turned it in to Turnitin.com, all before 7:30.
  • The funniest thing is, he forgot you also had to print out a hard copy.
  • Oh, and in Mandarin class today, I found out the guy sitting next to me was a diehard anime fan. Lol, that’s pretty awesome~~

Ichi

October 25th, 2009
"Cut through the darkness to find the light"

"Cut through the darkness to find the light"

A 2008 Japanese film featuring the talented Haruka Ayase who plays the main character Ichi, a Goze (blind woman) with exceptional sword skills. She is, like other goze of that time, forced to live a harsh life trying to make a living off of playing the shamisen. One day, when she is attacked by a few samurai who are looking for some fun, she encounters a strange man, Touma Fujihira.

"Wait wait wait, I'll give you my money if you let her go"

"Wait wait wait, I'll give you my money if you let her go"

God knows why but the samurai decide to take the money and the girl AND kill him. What a genius. And to make matters worse, he can’t even draw his sword for some unknown reason (will be revealed later on). So just when you think its over…

Slash slash slash slash slash...blind girl owns everyone in an awesome slowed-down fight scene.

Slash slash slash slash slash...blind girl owns everyone in an awesome slowed-down fight scene. Notice the funny expression on the guy in the back ><

Even though she kills like dozens of people every time theres no blood on the blade.

Even though she kills like dozens of people, every time theres no blood on the blade.

Wait a minute…wasn’t the GUY supposed to save the blind girl, not the other way around??? Anyways…I have to comment on how awesome her sword is…looks like a regular old stick she uses to walk with but then easily unsheathing a deadly blade by pulling it apart.

Now how did she come upon such owning skills? Well she got them from the guy who took care of her when she was small. Enduring hardships together just for a little blind girl…*sniff sniff* Now if that isn’t heart-moving then I don’t know what is.

So back to the story, they end up going to this inn town together where this band of samurai- the Banki -(more like a modern day gang) is basically terrorizing the town and taking whatever they want whenever they want. Touma goes to a gambling place where bascially you guess whether the 2 dice end up odd or even. At first he loses alot, but then Ichi uses her super-pwnage sensitive hearing (do all blind heroes have to have this cliche skill) to tell whether its odd or even when its still hidden. Guess what, the other gamblers aren’t happy with him. They follow them after they leave and end up fighting them. Again Mr. I-can’t-draw-my-sword-but-I’m-still-wearing-it-on-me does nothing and Ichi pwns everyone. The town leaders come and obviously think the blind girl killed 5 samurai yea…no. So Touma ends up being hired as the town bodyguard and will have to fight off the Banki…yea that was smart.

Anyways I wont ruin the movie, so I’ll leave it at that. Overall GREAT MOVIE. I mean I thought it would suck because Funimation decided to show it but man was I wrong. Haruka plays Ichi’s role perfectly, totally embodying being a Goze, everything from the eyes to the walk. Don’t you just love actors who you find are just perfect for their roles or pull it off just beautifully?

Here are some more highlights shots:

vlcsnap-2009-10-25-19h14m44s197

Just some more pwnage...

vlcsnap-2009-10-25-19h15m05s198

Ouch.

vlcsnap-2009-10-25-19h16m17s121

Slash.

Total massacre.

Total massacre.

Creepy Banki leader...

Creepy Banki leader...

The Shirakawa leader has a strong jaw...

The Shirakawa leader has a strong jaw...

Rating: 9/10

Music Dump Time!

October 25th, 2009

[wpaudio url=”http://files.leafwood.net/mp3/Under%20the%20Sky.mp3″ text=”cloudica – Under the Sky”]

This song is the outro to the anime Bakuretsu Tenshi, an anime I watched two or three years ago. Thinking about it now, I was really obsessed with it then, even though compared to a lot of the animes I’ve watched now, it might not have been that spectacular. It was pretty good, and pretty touching, though. This song is a completely different tone than the anime’s themes and morals. It’s upbeat and awesome, and it’s long been a favorite of mine.

[wpaudio url=”http://files.leafwood.net/mp3/Yakusoku%20%28Seiyuu%20Ver.%29.mp3″ text=”Mai Kadowaki, Mamiko Noto, Mikako Takahashi – Yakusoku (Seiyuu ver.)”]

This is the outro for the OVA series for Kyou no Go no Ni. For those who know Minami-ke, the author of Kyou no Go no Ni also authored the Minami-ke manga series. It’s pretty much the same sort of Minami-ke/Lucky Star/Azumanga Daioh/Seitokai no Ichizon sort of anime. This song, and the intro, Baby Love, though, are… I don’t want to say “beautiful”, but they are much more mature than the anime itself.