Category Archives: upcoming

{2nd Review} Henneko, Kantoku & JC Staff

  By Halfey Halphstein | April 15, 2013 - 10:11 pm | ,
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Comparison between the official art (left) and the anime adaptation (right).


Comparison between the official art (left) and the anime adaptation (right).

The comparison between the official art (left) and the anime adaptation (right).

The name JC Staff might sound extremely despicable to some people but for me they are doing a good job at maintaining the consistency of look between the original Kantoku’s work and the anime adaptation. Just look at the picture above where there’s little difference (at least for me) between the original artwork done by Kantoku himself and the anime version of it. For somebody like me who have exposed myself to lots of Kantoku’s artworks I could easily tell that it carries Kantoku’s style at a single glance.

Regarding my plan to release my own magazine, I have decided that the first few editions will be in a mini-magazine format which has limited number of pages. From there I could test the ground so that in the future I could shift to making a full-fledged magazine (maybe having up to 100 pages like a real magazine) or just keep it as a mini-magazine. I know it’s gonna be a tough work and I have no related background in publications but I’ll give it my best anyway.

[Upcoming] Chuu2 is getting a second season?

  By Halfey Halphstein | March 30, 2013 - 10:52 pm | ,
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中二病でも恋がしたい！　契約更新 (HD).mp4_snapshot_00.14_[2013.03.30_22.50.12]


The above ‘promo’ was shown right after the final episode of Tamako Market finished showing, hinting that there will be a second season of Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai. So how will they name the series? Apparently using the number 2 is out of question since it is already used in the first season so that means there’s a chance they would use double exclamation mark (!!) for the title. Not that it’s a problem but I’m thinking is this a good idea because in my last post about Chuu2 a few months ago I did say that the anime was good enough without newer season.

If they’re going to make new season anyway they better do something about Rikka’s chuunibyou syndrome. I mean she already seen the Ethereal Horizon, which was the reason she developed the syndrome in the first place so without anything more to pursue keeping her delusions would be pointless right? Also I’d like to see Touka making her appearance again though it maybe unlikely since she was supposed to stay in Italy for a few years. Anyway should Touka make her way back into the new season it would be interesting how she would treat Yuuta for ‘betraying’ her trust (to ‘cure’ Rikka’s chuunibyou syndrome). I’d love to see that.

Spring 2013 Anime: My most anticipated new series

  By Halfey Halphstein | March 27, 2013 - 11:17 pm | ,
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Nearly half of the new shows in the upcoming season are second seasons or continuations of existing series. I’ve covered some of them a few days ago but let’s not forget that what truly define a new anime season is the arrival of completely new shows. Let’s take a look at what this Spring 2013 is going to offer to us.

Hentai Ouji to Warawaranai Neko (Henneko)

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Henneko is a show that I’m definitely not going to miss for I’ve been passionately waiting to see an anime with character designed by my all time favorite artist, Kantoku. I’ve written a bit about this anime before, which can be read here and here. After this I’m looking forward to watching Prism Nana as well.

Red Data Girl

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RDG seems to be quite interesting compared to the rest of new series in the upcoming season, at least from the way people on the net had described it. From the synopsis I’ve read somewhere, the story is (as expected) something out of this world but not too much as it still sounds quite ‘normal’ at some points. I’ll do some more research about it once the series starts airing.

Spring 2013 Anime: New mecha anime I might want to watch

  By Halfey Halphstein | March 26, 2013 - 11:02 pm | , ,
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To be honest I was quite ‘troubled’ with the lack of interesting mecha anime in the recent years. The last one that I found really interesting was Aquarion EVOL (anything that follows after that looks lame to me). I didn’t include Muv-Luv though because I put the series on hold (meaning that I’m still looking forward to finish it, except that I need to prepare my mind first). In this upcoming season we’re about to watch new mecha series and I hope at least one of them will be watchable until the end.

Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince

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Kakumeiki Valvrave

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This time I’m refraining to write the synopsis because they sound a little cliche to me (super robot in space, wars, etc) but it doesn’t mean I’m looking down on them. As long as they can put some twists here and there it should be enough to get me engaged. The good thing is there’s no alien involved, though I’m kind of disturbed that Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince features some sort of “genetically advanced human” just like the one we found in Gandum SHEET. Even the characters are also designed by Hisashi Hirai, the one who designed the characters for Gandum SHEET. Coincidence?

Spring 2013 Anime: Newer seasons that I might or might not watch

  By Halfey Halphstein | March 25, 2013 - 10:08 pm | , ,
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Spring 2013 does not only feature the second season but also some HD remakes (I’ll write specifically about remakes in another article . Being made into second or third season does not always make me excited though because of the bad experience I’ve had with the older seasons of those anime. I’ll tell you about the “bad experiences” here; keep reading (WARNING: Trolling ahead!)

Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride

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I have never finished the first season because the aired version was effed up by ink spatters. Although the previous season was praised by many of my friend for its ‘story/plot’ it was seriously effed up to the point of being unwatchable. Because of that, as a protest I decided not to buy the DVD but downloaded the ripped version just to see the IMPORTANT INFORMATION that was effed in the aired version. Whether I will watch this new season it depends on how much effed the aired version is but I’m ready to ‘protest’ once again.

To aru Kagaku no Railgun S

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I also never finished the first season of Railgun because of the lesbo Kuroko and because of that too I always associate character voiced by Satomi Arai with something that I hate even if that something does not exist at all. I don’t hate spin-off anime but so far I haven’t seen something that I could recommend to anybody, let alone being a legend or an all-time favorite. Maybe I’ll watch this for a while but there’s a high chance that I won’t watch it past the second episode.

Spring 2013 Anime: Time for some of the most awaited second seasons!

  By Halfey Halphstein | March 24, 2013 - 10:36 pm | ,
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With some titles has recently closed their curtains including Cuticle Tantei Inaba and Shinsekai Yori, it’s just natural to look forward to what is waiting for us next which is due to air starting from as early as next week. Before that both anime titles I mentioned above were unexpectedly good. I never imagined myself watching a “gay animu” like Cuticle Tantei Inaba until the end. Shinsekai Yori, on the other hand have slightly changed my view on yuri in anime in a positive way, thus I jokingly call the anime “Shinsekai Yuri”. Now I’m going to talk about second seasons of my all time favorite anime.

OreImo

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Since 2010 I could say the second season for this series was imminent except that I didn’t know when they are going to air it. I was expecting it to air last year, considering my other all time favorite anime such as “BokuTomo” (Haganai) which was aired one year later only took slightly over a year to come up with the second season. Anyway I hope in this season Kirino will stop being a bitch and I want more screentime for Hanazawa-san Kuroneko.

Nyaruko-san W (」・ω・)」うー！(／・ω・)／にゃー！

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If there’s an anime that I don’t need it to have any story/plot attached to it, it would be Nyaruko-san. OK I was half-joking about that because I would be lying if I say this anime is all about having fun and no story at all. Well maybe the story wasn’t there to begin with but the real fun is with the relationship between characters. Besides I NEED this anime as a counter balance to the existing female tsundere anime out there that I’m sick of.

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I have no idea when OreImo will start airing but Nyaruko-san will be aired starting on April 7th. That means I still have around one week to prepare myself. If I have enough time this week I will write a few more about anime I’m looking forward to in this Spring 2013 because many of them look interesting, especially those that feature mecha and lolis!

Fall Anime 2012: What I’m looking forward to (Part 1)

  By Halfey Halphstein | September 6, 2012 - 1:40 am | ,
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Fall Anime 2012 chart ver. 1.0 (courtesy of Neregate.com)


Fall Anime 2012 chart ver. 1.0 (courtesy of Neregate.com)

Neregate.com has just compiled the first chart for 2012 Fall Anime line up. Of course the chart is not complete yet and it will be updated as newer announcements and confirmations come out later. So far the line up is good but I’m still sad that there are many titles scheduled from winter to summer that I haven’t enjoyed yet due to unavailability. I’m not sure what happened to those titles, whether they’re cancelled or no subbers bother to bring them to us but I still hope I’ll be able to watch them soon. Anyway here are my picks based on whatever info available now:

1. Magi
Adaptation from the 1001 Nights, making it kinda like Ookami-san. BTW where’s Ookami-san season 2??!!!

2. Robotic;Notes
The title is written in a way that reminds me of Steins;Gate obviously. Not sure if this is a real mecha anime (featuring super robots) or just ‘robots’ but I’ll wait to see how it will fare to its description.

3. Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb
It’s the newest Hidamari Sketch anime, there’s Yuno, Ume Aoki’s artworks. What more can I ask?

4. Busou Shinki
I’m interested to see those small ‘assistants’ with intelligence an emotions. Reminds me of Hand Maid May.

5. Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun
A romantic comedy, and it’s not from eroge. Worth a try.

6. Suki-tte Ii na yo
Looks like a shoujo anime, and there’s probably a reverse harem too. Sounds worth trying for now.

7. Seitokai no Ichizon 2
I missed the first season. Looking forward to this as well.

8. Code:Breaker
The description is actually bad by my standard (killing people just like that? Seriously?) and I have the same sentiment towards it as I had with Mirai Nikki but I’ll let the first impression for my further judgment.

9. Shin Sekai Yori
The description sounds serious enough, combined with the art reminds me of Fractale. Will watch and I hope it will be good.

10. Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai!
From the art (and the description mentioned “sad event”) I thought this would be the ‘serious’ anime by KyoAni but I’ve read somewhere this is kinda comedy or something. Let’s see…

11. Girls und Panzer
Um, is it like Upotte?

12. Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankei Nai yo ne-
Yet another wincest themed anime with long title as well. I hope it’s not a story revolving around rich kids like NakaImo.

13. Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojyo
A cute girl as a pet?!! Do want!!!

14. Kyousogiga
This anime is already started but I have yet to watch it. I’ll start it this weekend and oh the art resembles Mawaru Penguindrum but I hope the animation is done better.

15. Little Busters!
This has been on waiting list for many people for many years already. Only recently that JC Staff managed to pick it up and then we heard people complained about it. I have nothing against JC Staff and honestly I think those complains are stupid. If anything my only complain would be I haven’t played the eroge! (even if I had the chance to I’d still feel reluctant to play it because I hate mosaics!).

16. Hayate no Gotoku
I’m not sure why this title is here, whether it’s a new series or not because there was no mention of “season x” (and I’ve lost count of how many season it has already). I’m also not sure if I’ll watch it or not because I hate tsundere (Kurisu Makise is an exception) especially those voiced by KugiRie… Maybe I’ll watch the first few episodes.

That’s all for now and sorry I didn’t cover those without description because… well I can’t say anything about them if there’s no description to comment about, although they have good art like GoHands and Haitai Nanafa. Not to mention Psycho-pass art makes me want to know more. Oh BTW there are 2 Madoka Magica movies in October and I hope by early next year the DVD will be available for sale.

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[Interpost] Yet another anime character design by Kantoku

  By Halfey Halphstein | August 2, 2012 - 11:30 pm | ,
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Original Anime Project “Prism Nana” by SHAFT

http://0taku.livedoor.biz/archives/4259665.html

Yes! It’s just a few days ago that I discovered the news about a light novel “Hentai Ouji to Warawaranai Neko” will become an anime where the light novel is illustrated by Kantoku. Now another good news popped up, which is SHAFT, the studio behind Madoka Magica is making another original mahou shoujo anime named “Prism Nana” with Kantoku doing the character design. Take note that by ‘original’ here it means this is not an adaptation from any existing source material.

I have nothing against this, in fact I welcome it because I have always wished to see more Kantoku’s works in anime form. I might have a problem with SHAFT in the past, mainly because I don’t like their animation style, however with good character design and story, like what they did with Madoka Magica, I would easily forget that. Not much is known about this anime project so far and they will only announce it in the upcoming Comiket 82 but I hope Urobuchi will write for this show too.

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While I’m waiting for Summer 2012 Anime… (We’re recruiting!)

  By Halfey Halphstein | June 30, 2012 - 10:22 pm | , , , , , , , , ,
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Picture probably unrelated but it's Christina so there should be no problem.


Picture probably unrelated but it’s Christina so there should be no problem.

Many things happened since last week. First Microsoft announced their first “in-house-made PCs” or more specifically tablets named “Microsoft Surface Pro” and “Microsoft Surface RT”. They look beautiful to me and the most important thing is they don’t look too similar to iPad. The tablets invited mixed reactions where some (including me) appreciated it while some others hate it for various reasons. For me not knowing the price, the battery life and the launch date is not a reason to hate it as I can always wait and see. Besides just announcing doesn’t hurt my pocket and my planned purchase.

In the last few days Google on the other hand announced their take on tablet business by launching the ASUS-made “Nexus 7″ which immediately made available for purchase after the Google I/O event. For me Nexus 7 is more like a competitor to the existing 7″ Android tablets like Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook rather than iPad. Alongside that they also announced another Nexus-branded product which is the “Nexus Q” streaming media player, together with the recommended premium-priced Triad bookshelf speaker. I’m not interested in that player but if I got the money I’d get the speaker for sure.

With both Microsoft and Google already have their own tablet hardware let’s not forget about another company that is new to this tablet business. Vizio, one of the major household names in the US when it comes to LCD TVs are making their own PCs that look as beautiful as Macs if not prettier. For the first time I feel Macs now have a serious competitor that even longtimers in the PC business failed to achieve that reputation. They are also making tablets but so far the focus is more on their laptop and desktop offerings. Now I wonder if they would make their way to this part of the world.

And the tech thing that happened to myself this week is I was offered a broadband speed upgrade by my ISP (TMnut) to 4Mbps. I accepted the offer but not after I trolled them good for about 10 minutes, citing their various failures like the capping in their UniFi packages. They told me so far none of their existing customers have exceeded the allocated download volume limit ever since the introduction. I told them that’s bullcrap because if the ‘higher’ product (UniFi) comes with a limit that it’s ‘lower’ counterpart (Snailmyx) doesn’t have then it means the product isn’t worth getting for.
Oh do you remember sometime last year and earlier this year where I wrote about customizing my own smartphone and tablet? Well now I have another new interest to add to the list, which is to play with the reduced-sized ARM-powered computers, now that ‘toys’ like Raspberry Pi, FXI Cotton Candy and Pandaboard are getting closer to my hand. I hope more of these ARM ‘PC’ being made so that Microsoft would reconsider their decision of not selling Windows RT (ARM version of Windows 8) as a standalone purchase, unless they don’t mind Android dominating that market too.

About anime, yeah most of Spring 2012 titles have ended this week and we’ll be watching Summer 2012 anime starting next week. This spring I enjoyed titles like Tasogare Otome x Amnesia, Sankarea, Haiyore! Nyaruko-san, Acchi Kocchi and a few others, including titles carried from winter (Aquarion EVOL). Titles like Shining Hearts and NazoKano will end this week too (the finale for those series is not available yet by the time of writing). Other than that, Mouretsu Pirates, another title carried from winter will have its finale aired by tonight and I’m going to see Chiaki-chan again (^_^)

Speaking of ‘pirates’….. for now I’m happy with me being able to watch anime almost as the same time as it was airing in Japan. Earlier this week Apple has launched iTunes music store in my country after so many years waiting. The only problem is I can’t purchase anisongs from it without registering to the Japanese iTunes music store. Of course I could always register by using the iTunes prepaid card and use a random Japanese address but it shouldn’t have been that tedious! Record labels nag about piracy but then they never make it easy to get although I’m willing to pay! Bullcrap!

By the way do you have a blog? If you do then I would like to have a link-exchange with you. If you don’t have any then I’m inviting you to become a co-blogger at my blog. Currently I have only one co-blogger and I’d like to expand that number. I don’t set any particular requirement to become my co-blogger; as long as you’re interested and passionate about it then it’s enough. You may also give it a try by becoming a guess writer first so if you’re thinking of joining my team then reply to this post and I’ll guide you to the next step. Note: you may write about things other than anime/manga/games.

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[Summer 2012 Anime] What I’m looking forward to (Part 1)

  By Halfey Halphstein | April 19, 2012 - 9:19 pm | , ,
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Neregate.com has just released their version 2 of Summer 2012 Anime Chart. I know by the time of writing most Spring anime has just reached their 2nd or 3rd episode, which made this sounds so early. Actually I just finished watching Medaka Box ep. 03 right before I’m writing this but since it would take some time for me to process stuff from the show I’d not be able to come up with its review today. Instead it will be tomorrow, I promise!

I hope it's not "NakaEmo" like OreImo being "OreEmo".

Into the Summer show my first pick is Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru! (abbr. NakaImo instead of KonoImo, probably because KonoImo sounds like “this little sister”). Yes, this is yet another wincest, imouto-themed anime though I was expecting the 2nd season of OreImo this year (not sure if they will do the latter this year though but this is just ver. 2 of summer anime chart so there might still a hope).

Wincest is not really my type but what attracts me to this anime is the cute character design other than me wanting to see OreImo-like conflict involving a love triangle or something like that. This anime could be more laid back that what I’m expecting but whatever it will be I’ll just watch it and redo the judgment again. What I’m really curious about it however is how the “big brother” and his “little sister” got separated at birth, suggesting his father was a player with many mistresses. I could be wrong though.

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