Fall 2008 BLAHs

I'm actually tired of this obsessing over Lulu business.
See, contrary to what might have been popular belief if anyone read this blog at all, I don't actually have a stash of Lulu pictures in my laptop. I get them one by one as I put them here, just for the sake of the obsessing-over business.
See the difference now? Obsessing over something requires effort~ It doesn't come out naturally~
So uhh, dunno what that makes of me, putting in effort and all for something like this.
Actually, really, what DOES that make of me? LOL.
Lalala~

Soo, basically, this is actually supposed to be a post about the Fall anime I've decided to watch.
I'll divide them into 3 groups: Definitely will not be dropped, Prolly won't be dropped, and who knows~might get dropped ones. But the fact that I've decided to watch them, I prolly won't drop them anyway... It just might end up that I won't really remember them so well after this season, that it would be as good as if I had dropped them in the first place... But who really knows? :P
LOL, I got lazy, no more groupings, I'll just babble.

Clannad ~After Story~

Well, it's an S2~ And I really liked the first one, except for the pure Nagisa arc part. And the ending..... DX DX [decided to use this since blogger will think of the appropriate smiley as html tags again.. or something. If you can't see the smiley.. er.. not enough imagination, go level up or something.]
Anyway, second season seems great, like before~ I really like Clannad, hahaha.
At first I didn't like the OP though, but I guess it's that kind of song you start liking after hearing it a few more times. The OP is also by Lia who sung Air OP and ED and, well, just that is definitely a plus~~ Hahaha.

Fansub choice: SS-Eclipse
Reason: Because they're good~ And my last season copies were by them too.

Gundam 00 S2

RIBBONS GAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!
Bring Lockon back!!!
Nyahahahaha.
Juggernaut mask!!! WAH.
Tieria is gayyyy too? :o But he's a robot!! I thought he was genderless. o_O
LOCKON BACKKKK NOT SOME LOOK-ALIKE!!!!!!
[Insert more nonsense comments]

Fansub choice: Mendoi-Conclave/Conclave-Mendoi (Whatever, forgot.)
Reason: They were my sub of choice for last season. Haven't actually checked out BSS-gg/gSS, maybe I will later, since it's sitting here untouched anyway. But I think I shall stick to Menclave anyway. Mostly for the reason of S1-S2 consistency. Ahaha. A few observations on current Menclave encodes though. IF I remember right, last season's release were ~343mb encodes. This season's encodes are ~375mb. But I dunno if it's just me...... I think their S1 encodes were better or something. But I don't really remember that clearly, and I'm not about to dig into my archives just for that. Also like last season's karaoke more~ I'm a neutral when it comes to softsubbed vs. AFX vs. no karaoke. The OP colors were just a bit off.. The green was actually okay, they should've just kept it green, the changing colors didn't really help. As for the ED--just WRONG. The exit was cool, but apart from that, the karaoke just didn't fit, or maybe they didn't fit together or what. But it's not THAT bad. I just really liked S1's kara, I guess~

Kuro Shitsuji

Black feathers-check.
Creepy butler-check.
Spunky kid-check.
Funny scenes-check.
Freaky story-check.
Freaky creepy etc--CHECK CHECK CHECK.
OMG I LOVE THIS SHOW. HAHAHA.

Fansub choice: Shinsen-subs
Reason: They released first, haha. I haven't checked out the other group yet, maybe I will, maybe I won't. Depends. But as far as I can tell (well, this may not be very far considering how much I liked the show, might've been distracted, dunno), Shinsen wasn't bad for this, so maybe I'll just stick to them. anidb people seem to agree with my assessment anyway.

ToraDora

Another Kugimiya Rie Tsundere anime filled with flying, bouncing, and hey~ EVEN ROLLING insults~
LOL, taiga roll~ =)) [Or whatever it's supposed to be called, dunno]
Definitely a fun anime~!!
Funnily though... Their classmates don't seem to see Minori and Kitamura as weird... WHY @_@ Not that I see them as too weird, in fact I really enjoy watching Minorin with all that energy, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~ BUT. Seriously, if Taiga is weird, Minorin is at least, ALSO weird. Lalala~
FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN!!!
/senseless babble

Fansub choice: ggrain
Reason: I checked out... one other group, I think. And found that gg translation was generally better. Also like how the TL puts up trivia notes. Unfortunately, I can't stand the grain, so Ill just get ggrain. LOL at the grain though, why exactly is it there? Just for fun? Lalala.

Ga-Rei Zero

At first I thought this was another action blah anime (which I don't hate btw), so lalala. Then in comes girl who fights with a motorcycle. I'm like "COOOOOL. I'm so gonna watch this series just for the sheer coolness of motorcycle fighting!!". Then she died. o_O AND SO DID THE REST OF THE CAST. wthwtfwtwtwtwwww. o_O
And of course, because of that, I've decided to watch the second episode. And this time, I think I really like the series now, hahahaha. I also checked out the first volume of the manga. I didn't read it, I just scanned through it. And it now makes a little sense, this anime is actually the prequel of the manga. Ahaha. Well, in any case, I like it. Gun-sword weapon was cool too. YEAH.

Fansub choice: Currently deciding between sMi and Aniyoshi.
Reason: sMi is HD, and Aniyoshi isn't, but I thought Aniyoshi video qual was better anyway, soo... I haven't really tried comparing the TL and all yet, so lalala.
After comparing the TL for the first few lines where I could hardly hear the dialogue since it was a convo via radio, I got lazy and went to anidb. HAHAHA.
*(Btw, this gives us an idea of the level of my jap knowledge. I base things mostly on context, anime,etc-watching experience, some very very basic jap knowledge, and JWPCE. Therefore, I will only spot major errors, and that could even be wrong. Hahaha. But I do compare my impressions with anidb people's, so, I guess it should be okay~)*
But my initial impression WAS supported by anidb though. AniYoshi TL was generally better. On video quality, I still stay with my assessment that AniYoshi is better even though I'm actually one for more.. er.. vivid(?) colors. sMi's video had brighter colors, and AniYoshi's was a bit dull in that department, but sMi's video loses detail because of that (same case as Rumi's NnO). But sMi vid exhibited excessive banding. That and.. I dunno what to call the other stuff I see, but I don't like it. :D Although I don't remember seeing this much banding in Rumi, I actually don't really remember.. so.. lala? In any case, I'm supposed to be talking about AniYoshi vs. sMi for Ga-Rei.. so.. it doesn't matter what Rumi's encode was like. Their encodes are both ~232mb with AniYoshi's in 480p and sMi in 720p. I guess that's why AniYoshi had better quality huh? Well, as far as I can remember though, Ga-Rei doesn't really need HD, imo. And just because I feel like typing even more useless stuff, what exactly do I mean when an anime needs HD? It's when the art is so detailed, there's a possibility of not seeing that in SD. Hmm.. one good example would be TotA, I think... Casshern would also be one because of all those flying stuff when Casshern is ripping robots apart~ :D But this is based purely on my subjective judgement, of course~
LAST THING: Didn't like sMi's font. I thought AniYoshi's fit the show's mood better. Also, I don't mind the notes. :D I do mind subbers putting in "Eh.. Hehehe." in their subs though. WTH. o_O What am I talking about? I'll prolly put it up on this blog sometime. :D

To Aru Majutsu no Index

OP FEELS SOOOO SHANA.
J.C. Staff, come onnnn~ =))
Seriously, it wassss sooooo Shana. Ahahaha.
Looks to be a good, fun and adventure filled anime, so I'm in. ^^,
It's lacking something though... If it were just a picture, I'd say it'll be a bit dull. Can't really describe what I find lacking..... oh well.

Fansub Choice: Eclipse
Reason: They're good, didn't bother checking others (if there are others).

Tytania

LOL, operatic OP. HAHAHAHAHA.
Seems to me like it could be good though, so I'm continuing. ^^,

Fansub choice: ANBU
Reason: I asked a LoGH/Tytania fan which of the groups prolly had the right terms, and he said ANBU, so I'm like, OK since I dunno anything about Tytania, etc anyway. AHAHAHA.

Chaos; Head

Weird anime. FUN ENGRISH ED. Nice OP with a bit of Engrish.
Delusions, gore, cool-looking weapons, bloodworks.
Hey, I'm in, nyahaha.

Fansub choice: m.3.3.w
Reason: They're good. They also changed OP kara color to blue for ep2. Not that that affected my decision, but it's good to know that I don't actually have bad taste in TS. HAHAHA.

Mouryou no Hako

What the...?
But it's one of those mysterious, freaky types.
So... Oh yeah, I'm in. HAHAHAHA.
My choice in anime seems to be well-aligned with freaky,etc stuff, huh.
Well, I also like coooool stuff. ^^,

Fansub choice: Nightshade-yesy
Reason: 720p. Not sucky. Don't feel like bothering to compare it with Aero, so lalala. I think this is mostly because my view of Aero went down with their sucky Tytania video, but hey, they're speedsubs, so that's really okay, I guess. Lalala.

Tales of the Abyss

Actually, I don't like this one all that much. It's a game adaptation, so it certainly has that gamey feel, for one.
But since mieu~~~~ is soooooooo cuuuuuttttte~~~~~~~~~~~~~... I'm really really watching it after all~~ XD XD

Fansub choice: gg
Reason: I don't remember. I think I watched two other fansub versions and found that gg TLs were better and though I found their video a little bit off color-wise, it wasn't really that much of a big deal. Another reason would prolly be my tendency to stick with a group I've already come to... er... trust. Haha.. I don't think I really checked out the other groups that much. I watched Weib for the first ep since they released first, and their subs were kind of bad, haha. TS wasn't bad, neither was TL. It was the editing, I guess? Or maybe that's just how they do it--lack of punctuation. Hmm.. Oh well~

Hakushaku to Yousei

SHOOOOUUUUUJJJJJJOOOOOU~
Sparkles, fairies, and bishies--good elements for this genre.
I love sparkles~ :D :D
And I really do need a dose of Shoujo for this season~

Fansub choice: m.3.3.w
Reason: I dunno if anyone else is subbing this, but m.3.3.w is well... one of those groups I've come to "trust". Hehe. So that's that, I didn't check out any other release.

Casshern SINS

This is a rather serious story about robots receiving the curse of death because, supposedly, of Casshern who looks like Rockman. I swear he does.
*Ahem*
Anyway...
ANIMATION IS SUPERB.
OP and ED are GREAT.
So even though the story is *almost* boring (because it isn't really boring, just almost), I will still watch it for the great animation and possibly good story. :D

Fansub choice: Shinsen-Subs
Reason: For this one, I actually did compare Shinsen with another release. I think it was Anonymous, or something. I didn't bother getting the other release with a really small file size, because, uhhh... All the great animation would be wasted if this isn't watched in either HD, or at least decent quality SD.
Anyway, the other release had a number of TL errors, as far as I can tell, so definitely Shinsen for this one. Actually, it's a rather good Shinsen release, and it's completely softsubbed--something I've never seen Shinsen do before this one. Haha. Well... so that's that.

Yozakura Quartet

I loved the OP.
It's another one of those anime with supernatural powers and Youkai and stuff~
But it seems interesting enough. I didn't find it like, special special, but I did like it enough, so, I'm watching it. :D

Fansub Choice: Aone or AnimeYoshi
Reason: Haven't compared them yet but both seem to be okay, so that's why I would need to compare. But I think I'll be going for Chihiro for weekly watching, since AniYoshi and Aone are is rather slow and Chihiro isn't bad. :D Why Aone? Actually, as far as I can tell, TL/edit qual are really close... I'm just going for Aone because they didn't TL youkai to demon, etc. AND, well, Aone is supposedly a quality group. Hehe. They also rate higher on anidb. :D

Kurozuka

Talk about bloodworks. I wonder why they went and censored Ga-Rei and left this as is. Timeslot maybe? Oh well, who knows, too lazy to actually go and check.
Anyway, this is another serious anime. But the story interests me, so I think I'll keep on watching it. It might just be great though, and the animation is great.
The only thing I really have against anime like these is that... Well, I do like FUN~~ :))

Fansub Choice: PENDING Ureshii
Reason: The one I watched sucked. It was by Shinsen. Well, TL and all was okay, I guess, but the video was really bad, so I'll try and see if there are better ones, since this is an anime that, in my opinion, should be watched in HD or decent SD if possible. The quality of the anime goes to waste, otherwise. And I'm not talking about the gore, just to make it clear, since I may have implied with my other babbles that I enjoy gore. And for the record, I don't like sick, pointless gore. :P
From here on are comments after checking out sMi's and Ureshii's releases. Why Ureshii? I like the effort they put into editing it. HAHA. And the supplemental pdf.:D Also, once again, sMi's video seems to have a problem. Aside from lack of detail (what I mean is some of the detail seem to be smudged/blurred or something), it seems to have been overcropped and resized back to 720p...I think...since the proportions of the stuff were better in Ureshii's release, imo. Soo, that's that. :D

Kannagi

CRAZY goddess.
Funny enough, so, I'll be watching. :D
(I think this might actually be better than I first gave it credit for.. Hehe.)

Fansub choice: Ayako
Reason: Ayako is okay, in my experience, and I'm too lazy to spend time comparing for this one since I'm satisfied with Ayako's work anyway.

Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka

SOLA. Part II.
Of course not~ Actually, only the characters' appearances are quite similar. Only this time, Aono is the "stranger/surprise girlfriend" and Matsuri is the sister. Actually, the sister isn't really that similar to Matsuri, but well, they both have long hair and the stranger and the guy are similar enough to Aono and Yorito. Haha.
It's another cliche setting, I guess, but it isn't bad. And I do welcome fun. :D

Fansub choice: Eclipse
Reason: "Trust". Don't even know if any other groups are doing this.

Skip Beat

Uhh, LOL. Why am I watching this?
Because I just marathon-ed the manga up 'til the latest chapter I could find.. HAHAHA. So now, I think it's fine to watch the anime. :D
But it sure wasn't great.... Which is kind of sad since the manga is awesome~
But well, I can't really imagine how they can't produce a not-even-decent anime from a really fun manga, so, well.. the thing is I wanted to say that the anime is probably decent enough to watch. :D

Fansub choice: Ureshii-Yoroshiku
Reason: I "trust" Ureshii and I'm not really gonna go out of my way for this one since I don't like the anime that much anyway. :'( REALLY love the manga though, WAH. :(( But, again, I think I'll go with Chihiro for weekly watching, unless Ureshii-Yoroshiku picks up speed.

Michiko to Hatchiin

It's OK. Nothing special, imo. But not much really happened in the first episode, so I guess I can't really judge yet. :D
Could be good though, so I'm sticking around to find out.
I'm not really fond of lyric-less OPs/EDs, but the OP vide for this was so colorful, it was kind of okay. :)

Fansub choice: BSS
Reason: They were the first to release, I think? Also, "trust". Too lazy to check other groups. BSS is plenty okay anyway. :D

One Outs

A bit of the usual japanese overdrama, imo, but HEY, I don't think I've seen any sports anime that had no overdrama in it~ Hahaha. I miss sports anime, and this seems interesting enough, so I'll be watching, even though I don't really know much about baseball. ^^,
(If easily bored, skip to after close parenthesis. You have been warned.
~My experience related to baseball is zero, though I had softball for P.E. before... But that could hardly count, especially if you count in the fact that I had a sprained knee for about 60%-70% of the meetings. And guess what? That sprained knee wasn't even because of PE. o_o So I was stuck pitching all the time since I couldn't run, lalala. Our class wasn't really especially good anyway, but they were nice people, haha. Fun thing is, we still won the exam match against another class because, OMG, the pitcher sucked big time. We got lotsa balls~ HAHAHA. WALK POWER!!!)
Also, the main character is Hisoka. HAHA.

TO BE CONTINUED
(To watch: Switch)